Lung operations in humans arrive. In 1931, Rudolf Nissen reported the first successful pneumonectomy (removal of an entire lung in surgeonese). His patient was a 12-year-old girl with chronic infection. She suffered a cardiac arrest during an initial attempt, was resuscitated and underwent the successful operation two weeks later. Nissen Read More
Author: alexlittle@att.net
Things move along. Lung surgery developed, albeit at a moderate pace and all for infection. In the pre-antibiotic era the only therapeutic options were to drain an abscess cavity or to excise an infected area of the lung. In 1885 an Italian surgeon performed perhaps the first successful lobectomy in Read More
This follow-on from my previous blog is for those who want the nitty gritty. The committee (called the RUC for Relative Value Update Committee) I referred to has been active since the early 1990s. It meets several times a year, is run by the AMA and is constituted by physicians Read More
What? Doctors get paid? Of course they do. Medicine is a profession but it’s also a job. We must support our families just like everyone. Before insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid, patients were personally responsible for their medical debts and physicians determined their charges. By the time Medicare/Medicaid came along in Read More
This won’t be as bad as making laws or sausage but there will be details. In the 1980’s the relationship between medical schools and their hospital changed. Until then the school’s parent university owned and the medical school managed the hospital. The advent of managed care programs and shrinking hospital Read More
Academia: Does it infer arrogance from the ivory tower? Academia is simply how a university community is identified. Academic physicians of all stripes (surgeons, internists, etc.) are employees of medical schools and its parent university. They constitute the faculty. These these physicians have clinical practices and care for patients as Read More
Animals and Humans A few years after Péan’s operation Block, a Polish surgeon, advanced the possibility of operating on the lung when he reported the successful performance of pneumonectomy (removing the entire lung) in rabbits. His reports and demonstrations of his technique to curious surgeons created a modest stir in Read More
Trauma Leads the Way Let’s begin with Rolandus’s story from 1499. He needed more than a little persuasion to act! “Called to a citizen of Bologna on the sixth day after his wound, I found a portion of the lung issued between two ribs; the afflux of the spirits and Read More
As discussed in my previous blog, chest operations became feasible in the 20th century once the abilities to induce a state of general anesthesia and to use positive pressure endotracheal ventilation of the lungs were in place. In the USA these procedures were performed by General Surgeons. In fact, that Read More
History This is the first of a series of blogs on Thoracic Surgery and Thoracic Surgeons. Eventually I’ll get to the story of the development of this surgical specialty, discuss the current state-of-the-art, and review the role of thoracic surgeons in the treatment of such diseases as lung cancer and Read More
