The History And Literature Of Surgery

Annotated bibliography of surgical material published in eighteenth and nineteenth century America. Covers general surgery, gynecology, orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, urology, otorhinolaryngology, neurological surgery, anesthesia, plastic surgery, and thoracic surgery.

Preceded by The Cambridge illustrated history of surgery / Harold Ellis. 2nd ed. 2009.

Presents the leading personalities in the surgical field. Provides a biographical sketch of each of the surgeons, their contributions to surgery, and extracts of their writings. Covers the history of surgery from the time of the ancient Egyptians, to ancient China, India and Japan, to the Arabian peninsula, the Greeks, the Romans, the Middle ages, the 16th and 17th centuries, the 18th century and Lord Lister's contribution to antiseptic surgery and then the 20th century. The last period covers some major subdivisions of surgery such as hernia repair, abdominal surgery, surgery of the endocrine system, neurosurgery and thoracic surgery.

From a renowned surgeon and historian with five decades of experience comes a remarkable history of surgery's development--spanning the Stone Age to the present day--blending meticulous medical studies with lively and skillful storytelling. There are not many events in life that can be as simultaneously life-frightening and life-saving as a surgical operation. Yet, in America, tens-of-millions of major surgical procedures are performed annually but few of us pause to consider the magnitude of these figures because we have such inherent confidence in surgeons. And, despite passionate debates about healthcare and the endless fascination with surgical procedures, most of us have no idea how surgeons came to be because the story of surgery has never been fully told. Now, Empire of the Scalpel elegantly reveals the fascinating history of surgery's evolution from its earliest roots in Europe through its rise to scientific and social dominance in the United States. From the 16th-century saga of Andreas Vesalius and his crusade to accurately describe human anatomy while appeasing the conservative clergy who clamored for his burning at the stake, to the hard-to-believe story of late-19th century surgeons' apathy to Joseph Lister's innovation of antisepsis and how this indifference led to thousands of unnecessary surgical deaths, Empire of the Scalpel is both a global history and a uniquely American tale. You'll discover how in the 20th century the US achieved surgical world supremacy heralded by the Nobel Prize-winning, seemingly impossible feat of transplanting a kidney and how the heart-lung machine was developed, along with much more. Today, the list of possible operations is almost infinite--from knee and hip replacement to heart bypass and transplants to fat reduction and rhinoplasty--and Rutkow draws on his five-decade career to show us how we got here. Authoritative, captivating, and comprehensive, Empire of the Scalpel portrays the evolution of surgery in all its dramatic and life-enhancing complexity and shows that its history is truly one awe-inspiring triumph after another.

Surgeon Arnold van de Laar uses his own experience and expertise to tell this engrossing history of surgery through 28 famous operations—from Louis XIV and Einstein to JFK and Houdini. From the story of the desperate man from seventeenth-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room. What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery? With stories spanning the dark centuries of bloodletting and amputations without anaesthetic through today's sterile, high-tech operating rooms, Under the Knife is both a rich cultural history, and a modern anatomy class for us all.