Professor Yves M. Rideau (1938-2025)

On October 15, 2025 Yves M. Rideau, a pioneer of rehabilitation in muscular dystrophies, passed away at the age of 87. Born in Rochefort-sur-Mer on February 18, 1938, Yves Rideau chose a medical career in public service. Admitted to the Naval Medical School in Bordeaux in 1958, he quickly rose through the ranks to hold Hospital and University positions (in the anatomy laboratories of the Faculty of Medicine), an experience that culminated in 1962 with a long hospitalization for a progressive illness. After sustaining his thesis in 1965, he explored several career paths: University teaching in Bordeaux, Rabat and then Poitiers; scientific training in Paris; and finally, specialization in a new discipline “functional rehabilitation” also in Paris. 

 After passing the competitive entrance exam in 1969, he devoted himself entirely to his field of study. He was Professor of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine in Bordeaux, Doctor of Anthropology at the Faculty of Science in Paris, and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Poitiers, where he founded the Anatomy Laboratory. As a full-time physician, he created the Functional Rehabilitation Unit at the Poitiers University Hospital, which he directed until his retirement, and Director of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation until his resignation in 2000.

In the late 1970s, he taught clinical medicine at the University of Montreal for three years, subsequently taking on numerous teaching positions abroad (Germany, England, the United States, Italy, etc.) to promote the Poitiers university hospital network. He was also a member of the AFM (French Association Against Myopathies) in the early 1980s, but in early 1983 he resigned from the Scientific Council, believing that “clinical studies were not, in his opinion, sufficiently supported by his colleagues” (Denis Guthleben and Odile Le Faou, A Race for Life: The AFM and Biological and Medical Research, Armand Colin, 2011).

His close collaboration with our group in Naples began in 1985, when he was invited by Professors Giovanni Nigro and Lucia Comi to show the innovative technique developed with his friend and colleague Gerard Duport, in Poitiers. The technique involved early orthopedic surgery to release bilateral hip, knee, and foot contractures in a single procedure, allowing patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), then considered an incurable disease, to walk longer, access school more easily, and, most importantly, be free of conventional treatments such as intensive physiotherapy and night splints. 

That was the first of a long series of Rideau visits to Naples, during which our mutual feelings of esteem, friendship and affection grew stronger, so much that he loved to call us his “second intimate family”. Thanks to him, hundreds of Italian patients with DMD and Becker muscular dystrophies underwent this procedure at the Naples University Pediatric Orthopedics Department chaired by Professor Vincenzo Riccio, with significant improvements in their ambulation and above all, their quality of life. 

He was also a pioneer of non-invasive assisted ventilation, having precisely described the trend of vital capacity in patients with DMD and when and how to intervene to achieve its stabilization or at least delay its evolution. Together with G. Duport he developed more complex procedures such as the fixation of spinal deformities in patients with DMD, and the fixation of scapulae in patients with Facio-Scapulo-Humeral dystrophy (FSHD), which our patients benefited from in the 1990s and 2000s. 

His key role in this innovative and successful approach for the treatment of DMD was acknowledged by the Gaetano Conte Academy Award in Naples (1993), and by the Honorary Doctor’s Degree from the Second University of Naples in 2001 (Fig. 1). 

After retiring from his chair in Poitiers in 2003, he continued to be closely associated with our group, working on a new concept of “tracheal nostril,” an intra-tracheal approach to deliver air to patients’ lungs when non-invasive assisted ventilation is no longer sufficient. The France-Italy alliance became effective and practical in the common interest of DMD patients with the creation in early 2004 of the International Duchenne Institute - Italy, based in Naples at the Cardiomyology Service and active with its original objectives until 2012.

I had the privilege of collaborating with Professor Rideau since his first visit to Naples and the opportunity to attend his Unit at the CHU la Milètrie several times. I also had the privilege of sharing his daily work with patients during both my stays in Poitiers and his annual visits to Naples, appreciating his way of interacting with patients and learning a lot about the rehabilitation approach for patients with muscular dystrophies. The time with Yves Rideau and his friendship will remain unforgettable to me. Our last meeting was in March 2019, at his home. Since then, I have continued to hear from him thanks to his son, Frédéric who has been the link between us. 

I will always cherish the memory of such a special person who dedicated his life to the well-being of the most vulnerable and neglected people, striving to improve their quality of life and life expectancy. If there are now Duchenne patients in their forties and approaching fifties, it is thanks to his tireless research and study. Hundreds of patients and families are grateful to him for radically changing their perception of themselves and their potential beyond being confined to a wheelchair. 

I am grateful for having had the opportunity to meet him and share such a long journey of knowledge, respect and affection.