the good old days... Archive

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

News: Ancient Egyptians Also Suffered from Atherosclerosis

Lately vascular disease has been blamed on our modern diet, but new research on Egyptian mummies suggests that it has existed for thousands of years. A team of Egyptian and American researchers ran 22 mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities through a CT scanner. What they discovered was that over half of those that had recognizable vasculature also had either definite or highly probable atherosclerosis.

MedPage Today reports on the mummies studied:

They dated from 1981 BC to 334 AD. Of the 16 for which social status could be determined, all were from a high social class. They were either members of the pharaoh's court or priests and priestesses.
Evidence of vascular tissue was found in only 16; four had an intact heart.

Definite atherosclerosis -- defined as calcification in the wall of a clearly identifiable artery -- was present in five of the mummies. Probable atherosclerosis -- defined as calcification along the expected course of an artery -- was found in another four.

Atherosclerosis was significantly more common in the mummies estimated to be at least 45 when they died (87% versus 25%, P=0.029), but it was equally likely in men and women.

More details from MedPage Today: AHA: Mummies Show Evidence of Vascular Disease...

Abstract in JAMA: Computed Tomographic Assessment of Atherosclerosis in Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Flashbacks: CT Suggests King Tutankhamen Died from an Infected Leg Wound ; One of The Oldest Medical Mysteries May Have Been Solved

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Quick Tour of Four Decades of Medical Technology

Dr Wolfgang Albath, one of the founders of MEDICA in 1969, reflects on forty years of medical technology advancements that passed through the halls of that venerable European conference. Essentially, the article is a summary history of the rapid advancements the science of medicine has undergone with the introduction of all sorts of high tech gadgetry.

A snippet:

One touching Medica memory is of doctors standing amazed in a small room filled with huge computers, when the Medica Media Street was launched in 1987. They never imagined how their own lives would be transformed. Although IT systems only arrived in hospitals in the late '80s, today clinical and administrative processes are managed via a hospital information system (HIS), for which the clinical workstation is continuously evolving.

Read on at European Hospital: 40 years of MEDICA

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Monday, November 16, 2009

"Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine"

A collaborative team of Stanford radiologists, imaging technicians, and Egyptologists recently analyzed Irethorrou, a mummy from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), using CT scanning. The visualizations are on exhibit through next August at the Legion of Honor, a part of the FAMSF.

Using two different methods — a high-resolution CT scanner already in clinical use, and a more powerful research scanner that achieves even better resolution — Fahrig [Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, associate professor of radiology at Stanford --ed.] obtained some 100 billion “voxels,” the three-dimensional cubic equivalents of pixels, each measuring 0.2 micron on a side. “We went for as much CT data as we could get,” she said. “We knew we were only going to get one shot at it.”
The resulting copious data set can be accessed on demand to produce exquisitely detailed visualizations of, say, a hand or foot or head should somebody ask for it. This has applications beyond Egyptology for use in anatomical training: It’s difficult to obtain this kind of high-resolution image from a live person’s body, because the radiation would damage living tissue.

Link: Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine

Stanford press statement: Stanford scans of mummy to be featured in San Francisco museum exhibition ...

Flashbacks: Siemens CT Scanner Reveals Contents of Bust of Nefertiti; CT Suggests King Tutankhamen Died from an Infected Leg Wound ; One of The Oldest Medical Mysteries May Have Been Solved ; Computed Tomography Images Ancient Egyptian Mummy; Welcome to the 21st Century!

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Radio Guy Historic Novelty Collection

Steve Erenberg has built quite a collection of unusual historic items, with a focus on medical and scientific curios. What you see above is not a prototype for Robocop, but rather, an education mannequin for dental students.

There's many more antique pieces profiled at his site, called Radio Guy. But while we're on the topic of dentistry and radio guys, we had to ask: is it true that people can pick up transmissions in their dental fillings? Cecil of Straight Dope explains, in this classic column.

Link: Radio Guy...

(hat tip: MAKE Blog)

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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

One of The Oldest Medical Mysteries May Have Been Solved

In 1825 Dr Augustus Bozzi Granville performed an autopsy on Irtyersenu, a 2600 year old Egyptian mummy, concluding that the woman died from an ovarian tumor. Later it was discovered that the tumor was benign and probably was not the cause of death. Now scientists from University College London reexamined the body, and identified the presence of tuberculosis markers, a common disease in Egypt at the time, concluding that that was the real cause of the woman's death.

From the article abstract in Proceedings of the Royal Society B:

‘Dr Granville's mummy’ was described to the Royal Society of London in 1825 and was the first ancient Egyptian mummy to be subjected to a scientific autopsy. The remains are those of a woman, Irtyersenu, aged about 50, from the necropolis of Thebes and dated to about 600 BC. Augustus Bozzi Granville (1783–1872), an eminent physician and obstetrician, described many organs still in situ and attributed the cause of death to a tumour of the ovary. However, subsequent histological investigations indicate that the tumour is a benign cystadenoma. Histology of the lungs demonstrated a potentially fatal pulmonary exudate and earlier studies attempted to associate this with particular disease conditions. Palaeopathology and ancient DNA analyses show that tuberculosis was widespread in ancient Egypt, so a systematic search for tuberculosis was made, using specific DNA and lipid biomarker analyses. Clear evidence for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA was obtained in lung tissue and gall bladder samples, based on nested PCR of the IS6110 locus. Lung and femurs were positive for specific M. tuberculosis complex cell-wall mycolic acids, demonstrated by high-performance liquid chromatography of pyrenebutyric acid–pentafluorobenzyl mycolates. Therefore, tuberculosis is likely to have been the major cause of death of Irtyersenu.

Full open access article in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Tuberculosis in Dr Granville's mummy: a molecular re-examination of the earliest known Egyptian mummy to be scientifically examined and given a medical diagnosis

More from University College London: Mystery of 'Dr Granville's Mummy' finally resolved...

Image: The original appearance of the Granville mummy. (a) Inner coffin lid; (b) unwrapped mummy (Granville 1825).

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Friday, September 18, 2009

Surgical Videos from the 1930s

Wired is showcasing a set of 1930s surgical silent films from the British Medical Association & Wellcome Trust. On display is the demonstration of how to excise a gigantic ovarian tumor, remove a tuberculoma from the brain, perform a caesarean, reduce a fracture collarbone, remove tonsils, and repair an inguinal hernia. Watch the videos for a look at how surgery was done back when they played Ella Fitzgerald on the gramophone in the OR.

Removing a 25 pound ovarian tumor, circa 1933:

Link @ Wired: Videos of 1930s Surgeries on the Brain, Belly and Tonsils...

More: Wellcome YouTube Channel...

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Monday, July 6, 2009

Rejoice This Is 21st Century: Scary Medical Devices From The "Good Ol' Days"

A new blog called Vital Signs has posted a photo gallery of twenty particularly nasty looking surgical tools from an altogether different time.

Skull Saw (1830s-60s)

This hand-cranked saw's blades were used to cut through sections of the skull, allowing for access by other instruments.

Tobacco Smoke Enema (1750s-1810s)
The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient's rectum for various medical purposes, primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims. A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke towards the rectum. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration, but doubts about the credibility of tobacco enemas led to the popular phrase "blow smoke up one's ass."

Link: 20 Scary Old School Surgical Tools...

(hat tip: Babochkov)

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

1800s Surgical Kit - Unboxing

".. imagine it is the tool with which you are about to remove a man's limb. This is a dark, sombre instrument, with serious purpose."

We don't often unbox things here at Medgadget. For whatever reason, Phillips and GE keep forgetting to mail us their latest CT scanners for review. And Intuitive Surgical, where's our da Vinci? We need something to make our morning lattes. That being said, recently we got our hands on a wonderfully preserved, rare 1800s surgical kit, made by the famous pre-civil war surgical equipment manufacturer Henry Schively out of Philadelphia, PA. We thought we'd use this opportunity to reminisce on surgery of the past, you know, before ether was given a try, and when surgeons could operate in formal attire. To help us on our voyage through the kit, Medgadget has enlisted our friend Dr. Laurie Slater, whose website Phisick showcases a formidable collection of medical and surgical antiques. Being more knowledgeable on such matters than us, he has kindly offered to act as our guide. From the confines of this post / interview, we'll explore the surgical kit, touch on surgery in the 1800s, and get you thinking about the days when you'd probably dress like these gentlemen.

So let's get started. Hinge opening... Now.

Dr. Slater, thank you for kindly serving as our guide through this kit.

You are very welcome. I'm delighted to be able to get a first hand look at this lovely surgical set, so thanks for asking me.

Before we dig into our kit, tell us a bit about why you started collecting medical antiques? What prompted you to start Phisick and where did the word 'Phisick' come from?

What I first thought would be a passing interest was not. I come from an era of medicine where much of the equipment tends to be plastic and throw-away. The first time I set eyes on some of the older surgical instruments, I was bowled over by the incredible workmanship and the painstaking effort which someone had lavished on them. I remember thinking that whoever had constructed them a) knew what they were doing and b) was in no hurry. They were of the highest quality, made from the finest materials, with a mastery of design and engineering which, I fancied, would have challenged the legendary skill of the elfin silversmiths of Lothlorien. They had function, obviously, but also form.

Take for example the capital saw (the large one) in your set. The handle is made from dark black smooth ebony which is a durable hardwood, polished and oiled over many hours to a smooth waterproof finish. The curve of the handle is simple, but with a design reminiscent of something from the animal kingdom. Well weighted in the hand; the inner curve fitting the surgeons grip and the upper 'fin' and lower 'fish tail' anchoring the palm to the handle. This, along with the crosshatching will prevent any slippage when the teeth of the the cold polished steel meet with bone.

Stop for a moment and have another look, but this time imagine that this instrument is about to saw through your own leg without anaesthetic. Or look at it from the surgeon's point of view and imagine it is the tool with which you are about to remove a man's limb. This is a dark, sombre instrument, with serious purpose.

An appreciation of these instruments and the men who designed and constructed them has helped me see medicine and history in a different light, and an altogether more vibrant context.

About "Phisick"... The word was commonplace in the 1500s and synonymous with our current day "medicine." Spelling back then was fairly relaxed and no-one much worried about interchanging a "y" for an "i". You could 'take phisick' by swallowing a pill, or doctors could 'practise phisick' by trying to cure their patients. So this was the name I chose for a website which celebrates the beautiful, breathtaking, sometimes life-giving tools invented by the pioneers of medicine and surgery.

We're fortunate to know a bit of history behind this set. It belonged to a Dr. Geo L. Shearer (an ancient relative of one of your editors), who practiced medicine in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania from 1825 to 1878. Were such personal surgical kits normal possession of doctors in that era?

Knowing who the owner really brings this piece to life. I found a great account of Dr. George L Shearer and which included his role in the history of Dillsburg. The census in 2000 listed the population of Dillsburg at 2063, but when he first started there this figure was closer to 600. He was clearly a pillar of his local society - Chief Burgess of the borough, School Director, member of the Town Council and active in securing the Borough Charter, the State Road from Dillsburg to York, and the railroad. But for the people living there he would have been first and foremost their doctor. The author of this account of Dillsburg describes his "passing from time into eternity" in 1878 and he is also mentioned in his son's obituary as "The beloved physician" so he was clearly held in both warm and high esteem.

The surgical set you have here in style and configuration is no later than 1840 and predates the civil war by over 20 years which raises the possibility that as the owner, he might have had some prior surgical training. However, the amount of use it would have had at the hands of a local doctor in a small town would have been pretty limited and it seems more likely that if this set had seen much use that it would have done so during the years of the Civil War. During the Gettysburg Campaign, Dillsburg was twice invaded by Confederate cavalry at which time Dr Shearer would have been 61. If he had performed surgery at this time he would have done so in one of two roles, either as a militia surgeon, or a contracted private surgeon. At the start of the war the army forces on either side had their own army surgeons, those of the Union forces numbered 113, of which 24 joined the Confederates. Such were the terrible casualties in an engagement managed by pre-war strategies designed to suit professional soldiers, but acted out by massive numbers of poorly trained civilian recruits, that by the end of the war over 15,000 surgeons had been required to serve in the army forces of either side. Bollet, a civil war historian writes about this:

"During the first year of the war, and especially during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862, army surgeons performed all operations. Soon the overwhelming numbers of battle wounded forced the army to contract civilian surgeons to perform operations in the field alongside their army counterparts. Their ability ranged from poor to excellent."

In fact, because of controversy over the staggering number of casualties, strict rules were put in place to ensure that only experienced surgeons could operate and one figure suggests that only one in fifteen doctors performed amputation surgery. If Dr Shearer had had such a role he might have used this set to treat both wounded local conscripts from his home town (the number varied in the account I have read but was circa 30 of which 8 died) or soldiers with war wounds (who would have numbered considerably more). In fact, neither George L. Shearer nor his son, James M. Shearer are listed in the A.M.A. Deceased Physicians database. This in itself is not uncommon. Nor is he listed as a surgeon or asst. surgeon in the Roster of Regimental Surgeons for the Union Army, (but he would not have been of course unless he had actively joined the Union Army). Interestingly his son James M. Shearer is listed in the Roster as an assistant surgeon from Dillsburgh, Pa., who served until Aug. 1863. with the Pennsylvania 12th Reserves Infantry, (41st. Volunteers.) Nor is George L mentioned in the Medical and Surgical History of the War of Rebellion. So without any corroborative evidence that he was a surgeon in the Civil war it is not possible to say that this is a civil war surgical set, but the story as it has unfolded so far raises some fascinating possibilities.

In general, how would surgery be done in the 1800s? Would doctors ever operate on house calls? Any sort of anesthetics?

Dr Shearer practiced medicine in Dillsburg and to the six hundred residents of this backwater town in Pennsylvania he would also have been their physician, surgeon, gynaecologist, obstetrician and paediatrician. This heavy set contains instruments used for major surgery such as amputation or craniotomy. In practice, in a town of Dillsburg's size, outside of war, either of these operations would have been very rare and I doubt it would have seen a great deal of use in this context. It certainly would not have been carried with him on any regular basis. Most likely he would have had another medical bag or physicians leather pocket case in which the more common instruments in daily use were contained and which he would have taken on his house calls. The sort of surgery he might have undertaken would have been suturing of wounds, the drainage of an abscess or possibly the treatment of a superficial flesh would from a bullet (likewise not a common injury in peacetime). He might have used the smaller knives, forceps and needles in the set for this. Local anaesthetic was not invented until the 1880s and none of these procedures wound would have merited ether or chloroform and so would have been done without anaesthetic.

With regards to surgery, the turning point in the 1800s was circa 1846, with the introduction of anaesthesia. Prior to this time the use of an orderly to hold the patient down and alcohol or opium was a poor substitute, and meant that only absolutely major surgery could be undertaken. By far the most common operation was amputation, but also craniotomy (drilling holes in heads - which I will talk about later) and also the removal of bladder stones. The imperative in any case where the patient was conscious would have been to perform surgery as quickly as possible and the earlier surgeons prided themselves in the speed at which they could operate, some claiming to be able to remove a leg in under one minute!

After the introduction of anaesthesia there was a rising tide of surgical procedures. Most of them however would have been done in the civilian hospitals. In Massachusetts Hospital there were a mere 39 operations carried out in the 10 years prior to 1846 and 189 operations (60% of them were amputations) in the 10 years post. It was not until the turn of the century however with the introduction of antisepsis and asepsis that the volume increased significantly by which time in Massachusetts they were averaging 2,427 operations each year.

During the civil war it was estimated that as many as 60,000 amputations were performed on both sides. Because of horrific casualties of war and their appalling prognosis, the surgeons of the time were given pretty bad press and held in poor esteem by the public. Rumours abounded that amputations were performed needlessly, even though this was almost certainly not the case. Surgeons were also accused of performing amputation without anaesthetic. With the notable exception in 1862 of 254 casualties at the battle of Luka, this was not true either, but the reason such accusations exist have explanation. Most of the amputations were performed outside because sunlight afforded by far the best illumination and so many procedures were done in public view of "passers by." The anaesthetic would be applied by placing a cloth over the nose and face which had been soaked in either ether, or chloroform or a mixture of the two. As soon as the patient passed out the cloth was removed and this would have afforded only a relatively light anaesthetic. (And probably just as well because had it been held in place longer, fewer patients may have woken up). However, the light anaesthetic meant that the patients would tend to thrash around during the procedure even whilst unconscious. It seems likely that the observation of such movements in a public forum would lead to the assumption of an untrained eye, that the patient was still awake.

Given that these kits were used many, many times, how common were infections as a result of surgical procedures in the 1800s?

Many of the surgical procedures done in the civil war were complicated by infection as they were done without the knowledge of the role that bacteria played or the benefits of antisepsis and asepsis. Hospitals of the time were characterised by the stench of the ubiquitous pus and infection. The overcrowded and unhygienic conditions made the situation worse. Thick creamy pus from staphylococcal infection was referred to as "laudable pus" because it tended to be local in nature. The more serious infection from streptococcal infection produced a clear watery or bloodstained discharge and was called malignant because it caused septicaemia and death, hospital gangrene and osteomyelitis. The latter was a chronic infection in bone which was a complication of the almost inevitable infections which followed broken bones exposed to the air. The presence of osteomyelitis was a common indication for amputation.

This particular kit was made by Henry Schively. Since we're a medical technology blog, would you mind briefly telling us about the medical instruments manufactured in that era?

In the late 18th century most American surgeons were buying their instruments abroad, or from agents who had imported them from England. Henry Schively (1761 - 1811) is described in Edmonson's book on American surgical instruments as 'the Premier Philadelphia surgical instrument maker of the era of heroic surgery' which was the period from 1774 to 1840. He along with a number of other local artisans (there were 50 master smiths registered in the thriving city of Philadelphia, 10 of whom were listed as "instrument makers") contributed to Philadelphia becoming the centre of the American instrument trade. Supporting this development was the fact that Philadelphia and the surrounding regions had also become the leading American medical centre of the time, boasting the very first public anatomy lectures and dissections, as well as the first medical school, the university of Pennsylvania. The first surgical chair of this medical school was held by Philip Physick, the "father" of American surgery. Relatively few of these early master craftsmen managed to sustain successful businesses but Henry Schively and John Rohr were among the better known. Schively was famous for inventing the Bowie knife, although it was his focus on making surgical instruments which marked him out and he was approached by many surgeons, Physick amongst them to construct and refine instruments which they had invented. Schively and the family business later carried on by his son beyond 1850 was acknowledged in its time as one of the finest surgical instrument makers in America.

Here's an overview of the kit showing all of the tools inside. Do you think this was a common, general surgical kit, or do you think it might have been for more specialized procedures?

The set contains the basic surgical tools which would have been needed to perform emergency surgery by way of amputation and this is not an uncommon configuration. The essential tools for this would usually comprise of a Liston knife or knives which had long straight razor sharp blades polished steel blades for cutting through the muscle. A capital saw (the large one) was for sawing through weight bearing bones. The forceps and smaller knives would have been used for trimming the muscle and skin in such a way as to produce flap. The needles were used to sew the flap of skin and muscle in place over the bone stump. There would also have been a tourniquet for applying pressure around the limb to temporarily cutt off the blood supply.

In addition to these surgical tools the set also contains two hand trephines and other instruments used for trepanation. These would often come separately in their own case and so this set represents a "compendium" if you like. Other examples of sets which combined instruments for different purposes were carried on board ships. These were grand compendia with comprehensive collections of tools to manage all eventualities, including general surgical, orthopaedic, urological, ophthalmological and dental instruments.

This is the trepanning set within the kit. Would you mind briefly describing why a doctor would perform trepanning and how he would do the procedure?

Trepanation is the procedure of drilling a hole in the skull. The two main reasons for doing this would be to drain a collection of blood which had accumulated between the skull and the surface of the brain, or to elevate a depressed bone fracture. The former, often referred to as a subdural haematoma would raise the pressure within the skull and cause brain damage, and in a depressed fracture it was the bone of the skull pushing on the brain (like a collapsed ping-pong ball) which would damage the brain or causes it to swell. When done correctly for the right indications trepanation is a relatively simple procedure which is life saving. This set contains two drills with different sized crowns ("drill bits"), either of which can be attached with a screw to the horizontal crosshatched ebony handle. This forms a drill which is used in a similar way to a cork screw. A flap of scalp would first have been raised to clear the area of the skull to be tapped. In order to anchor the circular drill and prevent slippage a central spike is moved forward and fixed in place to start the drilling (see here). The drill is turned through the cranium until a disk of bone can be removed. This may have been pried out with a lever like 'elevator' and the edges of bone trimmed with a sharp knife or 'lenticular' and filed down with a 'raspatory'. The instrument on the top right hand side of the case would probably have been used as a combination of an elevator and raspatory. Sometimes one hole would be enough to drain a collection of blood. Other times a larger plate of skull would need to be removed and this was done by drilling three or more holes and passing a small abrasive wire (a Gigli saw) between two holes at a time to saw through the intersection.

Tell us, if you could, about the the lancet and what they'd be used for? Why was a scalpel or normal knife not sufficient to let blood?

Patients were frequently bled by their physicians in the 19th century and this was considered a panacea for numerous complaints ranging from headaches to gout. It was almost certainly ineffective in 99.9% of them. One such phlebotomy instrument used was the "spring lancet". The name is largely self explanatory. The device is primed by pulling the black lever which also moves the blade upwards and holds it in position under tension. The lower edge of the instrument is held over the area to be bled and it is fired by pressing the arm on the side which released the blade at speed into the flesh. The ensuing blood was usually collected in cups applied to the skin (see here). I doubt that this spring lancet came with the set originally but would have been a later addition. It is the sort of instrument Dr Shearer might well have carried on his person or in his medical bag. Physicians also used small knives and thumb lancets to do the bleeding but because the spring lancet was able to pass the blade through the skin more quickly, they were less painful. Later automatic devices called scarificators worked on similar principles but primed multiple blades at a time (see here).

The above vertebrae was found in the kit. Any idea why a surgeon might keep that around!?

This is a human cervical vertebra (from the neck). The central body has been drilled and so it almost certainly once belonged to an anatomical model skeleton. The reason it has found its way into this set is not obvious. The container in which it sits, along with the spring lancet is where the tourniquet for this set would have gone.

What do you think this little brush might have been used for?

This is a brush which would have been used to brush away the small pieces of skull bone which accumulated around the drill bit during trepanation. It is probably made from bone although it could be ivory. Although most of the pieces in the set are made from ebony it is possible that this was original as a number of items in the set do combine the two.

What about these saws? How do you think they might have been used? Amputations?

The top saw is called a Hey saw after William Hey an English surgeon (1736-1819). It is used to perform craniotomies, but instead of using a trepan, Hey removed a plate of bone by sawing linear intersecting lines through the skull. The middle saw we have talked about is called a capital saw and this is the large saw which would have been used in leg amputations to saw through the femur or tibia. The bottom one is called a metacarpal saw and would have been used to cut smaller bones in the forearm or hand or finger bones.

Anything else in the kit or about the kit that you'd like to comment on?

Just to reiterate that this is a superb very early surgical set made by one of the most famous American instrument makers and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to look at it and explore the history with you. American and civil war surgical instruments are not my specific area of expertise and so this exercise has been very educational and enjoyable one for me.

Thank you so much for helping us out! If our readers what to learn more about medical antiques, do you have any recommendations for books, or other resources (besides Phisick of course) that they might want to check out?

There are a number of good books on antique medical and surgical instruments which include:

Antique Medical Instruments by Elisabeth Bennion
American Surgical Instruments by James Edmonson
Medicine: Perspectives in History and Art by Robert Greenspan

For those with a more specific interest in Civil War surgical instruments I would recommend a trip to Michael Echols' web site which reflects his wealth of knowledge on this subject. I particularly want to thank Michael for the help he graciously offered in researching this set.

I would also recommend reading Bollet's illuminating article "The truth about Civil War surgery".

Lastly your readers may be interested in browsing the links page at Phisick.com where they can find a number of sites related to medical antiques and the history of medicine.

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A Life in An Iron Lung

The New York Times is running an obituary of Martha Mason who spent six decades in an iron lung due to polio. Incredibly enough, she lived a long life that was in touch with the rest of the world, later helped by modern technology that allowed her to even publish a memoir of how she spent her days.

From her horizontal world — a 7-foot-long, 800-pound iron cylinder that encased all but her head — Ms. Mason lived a life that was by her own account fine and full, reading voraciously, graduating with highest honors from high school and college, entertaining and eventually writing.
She chose to remain in an iron lung, she often said, for the freedom it gave her. It let her breathe without tubes in her throat, incisions or hospital stays, as newer, smaller ventilators might require. It took no professional training to operate, letting her remain mistress of her own house, with just two aides assisting her.

“I’m happy with who I am, where I am,” Ms. Mason told The Charlotte Observer in 2003. “I wouldn’t have chosen this life, certainly. But given this life, I’ve probably had the best situation anyone could ask for.”

Obituary in the New York Times...

(hat tip: bookofjoe)

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Short History of Japanese Anatomical Entertainment

Anatomical models have long been used as a teaching tool in medicine. The Pink Tentacle blog relates a story from the July 2001 issue of Geijutsu Shincho magazine about the history of wooden birth dolls in Japan. Apparently the Japanese were so fascinated with human anatomy that these models were a popular attraction at carnivals and fairs - which probably says more about Japanese carnivals than their anatomy dolls.

More pics at the Pink Tentacle...

Image: Fetus model set (circa 1877) - Toyota Collection

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Friday, March 6, 2009

"A Treatise on Foreign Bodies in Surgical Practice"

Those readers of ours investigating the pre-Roentgen history of foreign objects found in human cavities can turn to Dr. Alfred Poulet's seminal treatise on the subject published in 1880. Currently up for bidding on eBay, the two tome investigation is full of fascinating cases we prefer not to write about.

From the eBay listing:

This two-volume set is regarded as the first comprehensive work in this field, up to 1880.

An important feature of these books is the detailed description of hundreds of bizarre cases reported in the literature up to that date (1880), involving foreign bodies in all openings of the body.

The books describe, for example, a case of a woman who had been experiencing vaginal bleeding for several months, but which failed to respond to conventional treatments. After direct observation, the patient was found to have a live leech in the vagina [after removal of the leech, the doctor recommended her to use an underwear or a cork stopper when going to the river for a bathe]. Leech died of starvation after removal.

There are other cases in which spoons, cups, needles, glass bottles, hair brushes, avocado pits, beans, snails, or a variety of insects, arachnids, or fish were removed from different orifices of the human body.

Link to eBay: A TREATISE ON FOREIGN BODIES IN SURGICAL PRACTICE

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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Online Exhibit: Exploring the History of Medicine

London's Science Museum is hosting an extensive exhibition of medical devices used through the ages. A great deal of them make one squirm with pain by simply thinking that they were actually used. We particularly liked the bullet locator above and the ether inhaler to the right.

Top image: The Hirtz compass was invented in 1907 by E J Hirtz, a French medical officer and head of physiotherapy at a military hospital. The brass device was used to accurately determine where bullets were located in the body, especially the brain. Bullets could then be removed surgically with precision thereby reducing damage to the surrounding areas of the body. X-rays were also used to guide the surgeon. This example dates from the First World War.

Side image: Joseph Thomas Clover (1825-1882) first described his inhaler in 1877. It was the earliest inhaler designed to regulate the dose of an anaesthetic, in this case ether. About 30 ml of liquid ether would have been placed in the nickel-plate reservoir, with a rotating water jacket surrounding the ether to prevent it getting too cold. The patient then breathed in the vapours through a face mask connected by rubber tubing. Inhalers of this type were still in use during the Second World War.

Link: Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine

(hat tip: New Scientist)

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Monday, December 15, 2008

Iron Age Human Brain Discovered in Britain

While digging the foundation for a new expansion at the University of York, a human cranium was discovered that contained preserved remains of brain tissue. Using a CT scanner, researchers from Bradford University and the University of York are studying the brain's structure and its chemical composition to find out how it survived preservation for so long, and how it is different from the contemporary brains.

From a University of York press release:

Archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust, commissioned by the University to carry out the exploratory dig, made the discovery in an area of extensive prehistoric farming landscape of fields, trackways and buildings dating back to at least 300 BC.
And they believe the skull, which was found on its own in a muddy pit, may have been a ritual offering.

As Finds Officer Rachel Cubitt cleaned the soil-covered skull’s outer surface, she felt something move inside the cranium. Peering through the base of the skull, she spotted an unusual yellow substance.

"It jogged my memory of a university lecture on the rare survival of ancient brain tissue. We gave the skull special conservation treatment as a result, and sought expert medical opinion," she said.

York Hospital’s sophisticated CT scanner was used to produce startlingly clear images of the skull’s contents. Philip Duffey, Consultant Neurologist at the Hospital said: "I’m amazed and excited that scanning has shown structures which appear to be unequivocally of brain origin. I think that it will be very important to establish how these structures have survived, whether there are traces of biological material within them and, if not, what is their composition."

Dr Sonia O’Connor, Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford added: "The survival of brain remains where no other soft tissues are preserved is extremely rare. This brain is particularly exciting because it is very well preserved, even though it is the oldest recorded find of this type in the UK, and one of the earliest worldwide."

An interview with the BBC:

Press release: Iron Age 'sacrifice' is Britain's oldest surviving brain...

Images: Top: Brain material shows as dark folded matter at the top of the head in this computer-generated view into the skull. The lighter colours in the skull represent soil. Brain material shows as dark folded matter at the top of the head in this computer-generated view into the skull. The lighter colours in the skull represent soil. Credit: York Archaeological Trust ; Bottom: Dr Sonia O'Connor, from the University of Bradford, examines the remains of the brain using an endoscope. Dr Sonia O’Connor, from the University of Bradford, examines the remains of the brain using an endoscope. Credit: University of Bradford

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

History and Science of Cardiac Defibrillators

Cardiac defibrillators have come a long way in the last half a century. If you pay enough attention, you will notice that defibrillators are ubiquitous: now readily seen hanging on public institution walls like first aid kits of old. IEEE Spectrum magazine has an extensive article covering the history of the defibrillator, including the pictured device invented by Dr. Claude Beck in the 1940's at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Regulating the electric current to stimulate the heart is an interesting science from both the clinical as well as the engineering perspective, and Spectrum gives a rather in depth overview of the functionality of modern fully automatic units by tracing the device's development through the years.

A snippet:

Kouwenhoven and Knickerbocker’s observation was picked up by a pioneering cardiac surgeon, Claude Beck, at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. He began delivering ac directly to the exposed hearts of animals he had put into ventricular fibrillation. Beck might have continued methodically with his animal experiments, except that in 1947 a 14-year-old patient’s heart stopped during surgery. Out of desperation, Beck ordered that his research unit be brought up from the hospital’s basement. This simple defibrillator consisted of a transformer to isolate the patient from the 110-volt ac wall supply, a variable resistor to limit the current to a heart-safe value, and two metal tablespoons with wooden handles to deliver the jolt to the exposed heart [see “Saved by a Spoon”].
The first shock failed, so Beck administered a second. That brought the patient back to life, and the event made national news. But because so little was known about why the technique worked or how to improve it, these crude ac systems persisted for several years. Recipients of closed-chest ac defibrillation tended to suffer unpleasant side effects from the large steady currents, including broken ribs and damage to the heart muscle—if they were saved at all.

Unknown to Beck and his colleagues in America, investigators in Europe and Russia were far ahead of them in animal research and were beginning to use a single pulse, or dc, defibrillation. In the 1890s, Jean-Louis Prévost and Frederic Batelli, two physiologists at the University of Geneva, revived animals with a capacitor discharge delivered directly to the heart.

Decades later, one of their graduate students, Lina Schtern, moved to the Soviet Union and continued to refine the technique—that is, until she received a death sentence during a crackdown on intellectuals under Joseph Stalin. She was eventually pardoned by the dictator himself, who (according to accepted rumor) believed that she could bring people back from the dead.

Read the whole thing at IEEE Spectrum...

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Rare and Unusual Medical Book Collection Going to Auction

PBA Galleries in San Francisco will be hosting an auction selling off the medical and science library of Dr Gerald I. Sugarman. The good doctor must have been a bit of a quirk, judging by the morbid oddities and strange selections in the collection.

Morbid Anatomy blog explains:

A very kind Morbid Anatomy reader has alerted me to the upcoming Medical & Science Library of Gerald I. Sugarman, MD auction at PBA Galleries in San Francisco. The auction, which will take place on November 20th, features rare book, prints, instruments and ephemera from the realms of medicine, science and natural history.

View the collection (228 books and instruemnts) to be auctioned off..

(hat tip: Morbid Anatomy)

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

BMCA Medical Museum Goes Online

The British Columbia Medical Association put its collection of antique medical devices online for all to peruse, featuring items "that range from the curious to the macabre".

Here's info about the displayed breast pump from the mid-1800's:

A breast suction pump in green velvet lined box consisting of brass suction pump with piston rod, which has an ivory thumb rest and leather clad plunger base, which screws onto glass breast suction cup. Small oblong brass plaque on lid of box, lock plate and hook catches.
Object parts:

a) Lined case with plaque, lock plate and catch hooks
b) Suction cup with red fixative holding fitting
c) Screw cap for suction cup brass fitting
d) Pump cylinder
e) Piston rod

History of Use: Probably belonged to Dr. C.C. Covernton's great grandfather, Dr. Charles William Covernton, who graduated from Edinburgh c.1830. He moved to Simco Ont. 1836. He later moved to Toronto and became one of the 1st President of the Ont. Med. Assoc. 1881-1882.

Complete BMCA collection...

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Pacemaker Celebrates 50th Birthday

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first implantable pacemaker, a device developed by a Swedish company called Elema Schönander that was later purchased by St. Jude Medical. The patient was Arne Larsson at Sweden's Karolinska Hospital, and the device apparently lasted only a few hours. The second device went to work for 3 days. But Arne Larsson was a believer in the technology, and went on to benefit from 26 different pacemakers over 43 years of his life.

The device on the right was the first battery powered, wearable cardiac pacemaker, developed around the same time by Earl E. Bakken, the founder of Medtronic. And so, fifty years on, the two companies are continuing to develop and perfect the lifesaving technology. Say Happy Birthday to the Pacemaker!

Arne Larsson's story at St. Jude Medical...

Bakken Library and Museum online..

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Long Forgotten (Thankfully) Solution for Newborn Identification

Popular Science magazine featured ultraviolet branding of newborns in its December 1938 issue. Though believed to be "harmless" at the time, there are very good reasons this is not being done today.

Link: Modern Mechanix - Yesterday's Tomorrow Today

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Monday, April 28, 2008

Kaibo Zonshinzu Anatomy Scrolls Online

The Tohoku University Library in Japan has an online display of the painfully real Kaibo Zonshinzu anatomy scrolls, painted in 1819 by Kyoto-area physician Yasukazu Minagaki. The style is markedly different to the Western anatomy drawings, showing blood and gore, and often faces of convicts status post decapitation.

More at the Pink Tentacle...

Full gallery at the Tohoku University Library...

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