Title: 10 Historic Events That Shaped the Face of Modern Surgery

“The Craft of Surgery is as old as Mankind”

Authors: Amit Desai, Avinash Supe

 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v12i01.10

Abstract

Evidence of the practice of surgical procedures has been found in ancient civilizations. Various books have documented surgeries being done in ancient Egypt, India and Greece. Modern practices of anaesthesia, blood transfusion, antisepsis and nursing have helped to improve the outcomes and comfort of Surgery. The two World Wars played an important role in creating condition which were conducive to the rapid development of modern technology and improvement in Surgical techniques. In this article, we examine the various milestone events that have led to the development of modern Surgical practice.

Keywords: History, Surgery, Ancient Civilizations, Barber surgeons, World wars.

References

  1. Ghannaee Arani M, Fakharian E, Sarbandi F. Ancient legacy of cranial surgery. Arch Trauma Res. 2012 Summer;1(2):72-4. doi: 10.5812/atr.6556. Epub 2012 Aug 21. PMID: 24396747; PMCID: PMC3876527.
  2. McCallum JE. Military medicine: from ancient times to the 21st century.Santa Barbara: Abc-Clio Inc; 2008.
  3. Feldman RP, Goodrich JT. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Childs Nerv Syst. 1999;15(6-7):281.
  4. Martin G. Craniotomy: the first case histories. J Clin Neurosci. 1999;6(4):361–3. 
  5. Forshaw RJ. Reduction of temporomandibular joint dislocation: an ancient technique that has stood the test of time. Br Dent J. 2015 Jul;218(12):691-3. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2015.438. PMID: 26114704.
  6. Nunn JF. A treatment that has stood the test of time for over three and a half millennia. J R Soc Med. 2018 Oct;111(10):377-379. doi: 10.1177/0141076818804147. PMID: 30319002; PMCID: PMC6194952.
  7. Janot F. Traitement d'une luxation de la mandibule. L'observation no 25 du papyrus chirurgical Edwin Smith: examen--diagnostic [Treatment of mandibular luxation. Observation no. 25 of the Edwin Smith surgical papyrus: examination--diagnosis]. Inf Dent. 1991 Feb 14;73(7):455-8. French. PMID: 2001893.
  8. Sasson, Jack. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Hendrickson. pp. 901, 908.
  9. Stiefel M, Shaner A, Schaefer SD. The Edwin Smith Papyrus: the birth of analytical thinking in medicine and otolaryngology. Laryngoscope 2006;116(2):182–188.
  10. Arab S. Medicine in Ancient Egypt, Arab World Books. Retrieved October 26, 2006 from http://www.arabworldbooks. com/articles8.htm
  11. Sullivan R. Proto-surgery in ancient Egypt. Acta Medica (Hradec Kralove) 1998;41(3):109–120.
  12. Reeves C. Egyptian Medicine. Shire; Department of Physiology, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University College London, UK.
  13. Singh V. Sushruta: The father of surgery. Natl J Maxillofac Surg. 2017 Jan-Jun;8(1):1-3. doi: 10.4103/njms.NJMS_33_17. PMID: 28761269; PMCID: PMC5512402.
  14. Saraf S, Parihar R. Sushrutaa – The first plastic surgeon in 600 BC. Int J Plast Surg. 2006;4:2
  15. Saraf S, Parihar R. Sushrutaa – The first plastic surgeon in 600 BC. Int J Plast Surg 2006;4:2.
  16. Kleisiaris CF, Sfakianakis C, Papathanasiou IV. Health care practices in ancient Greece: The Hippocratic ideal. J Med Ethics Hist Med. 2014 Mar 15;7:6. PMID: 25512827; PMCID: PMC4263393.
  17. Tountas Y. The historical origins of the basic concepts of health promotion and education: the role of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. Health Promot Int. 2009;24(2):185–92.
  18. Rothstein M. The Hippocratic bargain and health information technology. J Law Med Ethics. 2010;38(1):7–13.
  19. Fabre J. Hip, hip, Hippocrates: extracts from the Hippocratic doctor. 1997;315(7123):1669.
  20. Jotterand F. The Hippocratic oath and contemporary medicine: dialectic between past ideals and present reality? J Med Philos. 2005;30:107–28.
  21. van Gulik TM, van Gulik MM, Koning HH. Prometheus en leverregeneratie [Prometheus and liver regeneration: the dissection of a myth]. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2018 Aug 16;162:D2882. Dutch. PMID: 30212020.
  22. Power C, Rasko JE. Whither prometheus' liver? Greek myth and the science of regeneration. Ann Intern Med. 2008 Sep 16;149(6):421-6. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-149-6-200809160-00009. PMID: 18794562.
  23. Chen TS, Chen PS. The myth of Prometheus and the liver. J R Soc Med. 1994 Dec;87(12):754-5. PMID: 7853302; PMCID: PMC1294986.
  24. Tiniakos DG, Kandilis A, Geller SA. Tityus: a forgotten myth of liver regeneration. J Hepatol. 2010 Aug;53(2):357-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2010.02.032. Epub 2010 Apr 27. PMID: 20472318.
  25. "Barber-surgeons." Science Museum, London. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 June 2015.
  26. https://uppercutdeluxe.com/blogs/blog/barber-pole-history-uppercut-deluxe#:~:text=The%20bloody%20bandages%20associated%20with,they%20were%20open%20for%20business.
  27. Adams AK. Tarnished Idol: William Thomas Green Morton and the Introduction of Surgical Anesthesia. J R Soc Med. 2002 May;95(5):266–7. PMCID: PMC1279690.
  28. López-Valverde A, De Vicente J, Cutando A. The surgeons Halsted and Hall, cocaine and the discovery of dental anaesthesia by nerve blocking. Br Dent J. 2011 Nov 25;211(10):485-7. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.961. PMID: 22116238.
  29. Jeske AH. The curse of discovery: pioneers of dental and medical anesthesia. Tex Dent J. 2009 Oct;126(10):973-7. PMID: 19911617.
  30. Toranzo Fernández JM, López Alonso G, Magaña Gutiérrez LE. Nacimiento historico de la anestesia local en odontologia [Historical origin of local anesthesia in dentistry]. Av Odontoestomatol. 1987 May-Jun;3(4):203-7. Spanish. PMID: 3331522.
  31. Grzybowski A. Historia kokainy w medycynie i jej znaczenie dla odkrycia róznych form znieczulenia [The history of cocaine in medicine and its importance to the discovery of the different forms of anaesthesia]. Klin Oczna. 2007;109(1-3):101-5. Polish. PMID: 17687926.
  32. Nakayama DK. Antisepsis and Asepsis and How They Shaped Modern Surgery. Am Surg. 2018 Jun 1;84(6):766-771. PMID: 29981599.
  33. Toledo-Pereyra LH, Toledo MM. A critical study of Lister's work on antiseptic surgery. Am J Surg. 1976 Jun;131(6):736-44. doi: 10.1016/0002-9610(76)90192-6. PMID: 779507.
  34. Toledo-Pereyra LH. Joseph Lister's surgical revolution. J Invest Surg. 2010 Oct;23(5):241-3. doi: 10.3109/08941939.2010.520574. PMID: 20874477.
  35. Michaleas SN, Laios K, Charalabopoulos A, Samonis G, Karamanou M. Joseph Lister (1827-1912): A Pioneer of Antiseptic Surgery. Cureus. 2022 Dec 21;14(12):e32777. doi: 10.7759/cureus.32777. PMID: 36686094; PMCID: PMC9854334.
  36. Fee E, Garofalo ME. Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War. Am J Public Health. 2010 Sep;100(9):1591. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.188607. Epub 2010 Jul 29. Erratum in: Am J Public Health. 2011 May;101(5):776. PMID: 20671261; PMCID: PMC2920984.
  37. Marinozzi S, Gazzaniga V, Iorio S. The Earliest Blood Transfusions in 17th-Century in Italy (1667-1668). Transfus Med Rev. 2018 Jan;32(1):1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tmrv.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Sep 23. PMID: 29126578.
  38. Learoyd P. The history of blood transfusion prior to the 20th century--part 1. Transfus Med. 2012 Oct;22(5):308-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3148.2012.01180.x. PMID: 22994447.
  39. Hosgood G. Blood transfusion: a historical review. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1990 Oct 15;197(8):998-1000. PMID: 2243052.
  40. Bosković S. Istorijat transfuzije krvi [History of blood transfusion]. Med Arh. 1974 May-Jun;28(3):347-52. Serbian. PMID: 4620010.
  41. Mandal, Ananya. 2019. History of Blood Transfusion. News-Medical, viewed 23 July 2023, https://www.news-medical.net/health/History-of-Blood-Transfusion.aspx.
  42. Ambrose CT. A letter from Alexis Carrel concerning the preantibiotic treatment of war wounds: The Carrel-Dakin solution. J Med Biogr. 2021 Feb;29(1):3-9. doi: 10.1177/0967772018808366. Epub 2018 Nov 1. PMID: 30382765.
  43. McCullough M, Carlson GW. Dakin's solution: historical perspective and current practice. Ann Plast Surg. 2014 Sep;73(3):254-6. doi: 10.1097/SAP.0b013e3182a634f7. PMID: 25121415.
  44. Ueno CM, Mullens CL, Luh JH, Wooden WA. Historical review of Dakin's solution applications. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2018 Sep;71(9):e49-e55. doi: 10.1016/j.bjps.2018.05.023. Epub 2018 Jun 8. PMID: 30173720.
  45. https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/injuries-in-world-war-i.html
  46. https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/2115192/medical-improvements-saved-many-lives-during-world-war-ii/
  47. Engelsgjerd JS, Deibert CM. Cystoscopy. 2023 Apr 10. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan–. PMID: 29630232.
  48. Kelley WE Jr. The evolution of laparoscopy and the revolution in surgery in the decade of the 1990s. JSLS. 2008 Oct-Dec;12(4):351-7. PMID: 19275847; PMCID: PMC3016007.
  49. Barker CF, Markmann JF. Historical overview of transplantation. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2013 Apr 1;3(4):a014977. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a014977. PMID: 23545575; PMCID: PMC3684003.
  50. DeBroe ME, Sacré D, Snelders ED, De Weerdt DL. The Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) and the kidney. Am J Nephrol. 1997;17(3-4):252-60. doi: 10.1159/000169110. PMID: 9189243.
  51. Hernigou P. Ambroise Paré's life (1510-1590): part I. Int Orthop. 2013 Mar;37(3):543-7. doi: 10.1007/s00264-013-1797-5. Epub 2013 Feb 3. PMID: 23377108; PMCID: PMC3580102.
  52. Rankin JS. William Stewart Halsted: a lecture by Dr. Peter D. Olch. Ann Surg. 2006 Mar;243(3):418-25. doi: 10.1097/01.sla.0000201546.94163.00. PMID: 16495709; PMCID: PMC1448951.
  53. Kyle RA, Steensma DP. Christian Albert Theodor Billroth: Founder of Abdominal Surgery. Mayo Clin Proc. 2018 Mar;93(3):e29-e30. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.06.026. PMID: 29502575.
  54. da Mota Gomes M. William Osler and Harvey Williams Cushing: Friendship Around Neurosurgery. Ann Indian Acad Neurol. 2019 Oct-Dec;22(4):384-388. doi: 10.4103/aian.AIAN_199_19. Epub 2019 Oct 25. PMID: 31736556; PMCID: PMC6839314.

Corresponding Author

Avinash Supe