Rainsford Mowlem (1902–1986): an unsung father of reconstructive surgery

Very little has been documented about the contribution of Rainsford Mowlem to plastic and reconstructive surgery, a well-respected and innovative surgeon. His era was dominated by key figureheads such as Sir Harold Gillies and Sir Archibald McIndoe, pioneers of the specialty during the pre- and post-war period. This short article is a commemoration of his work to appreciate the contribution to an ever evolving specialty.     

Nicolas Andry de Bois-Regard (Lyon 1658–Paris 1742): the inventor of the word “orthopaedics” and the father of parasitology

This is an historical essay about Nicolas Andry, a French medical doctor (Lyon 1658–Paris 1742) who wrote in 1741 the famous book called “L’orthopedie”, which was soon after translated into English (1742) “Orthopaedia or the art of correcting and preventing deformities in children”. His life and works are detailed as the containment of the book composed of two volumes and many engravings (the crooked tree has become the symbol of numerous orthopaedic societies around the world). A discussion of semantics (ORTHO-PEDIE) and evolution of the meaning of this word is also discussed.     

Hans-Christian Jacobaeus (1879–1937)

Already 94 years ago in 1910, Dr. Hans Christian Jacobaeus performed the first clinical laparoscopic surgery in Stockholm. His pioneering procedure was based on the animal experiments of Georg Kelling (1866-1945), a German physician from Dresden, who performed the first laparoscopic intervention in 1901 using a Nitze cystoscope in a dog. In 1910 Jacobaeus published his first experiences with laparoscopic surgery in the Münchner Medizinische Wochenschrift under the title "The possibility to perform cystoscopy in examinations of serous cavities." He used this technique for diagnostic purposes in unclear abdominal complaints and functional impairment. Jacobaeus was the first who pointed out the possibility of causing injury to organs, especially the gut, by inserting the trocar. In 1910 Jacobaeus recognized the immense diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities of laparoscopic surgery, but also the difficulties and limits. He also was the first who recognized the need to complete training sessions on animals and corpses. He demanded the development of special laparoscopic instruments to optimize and simplify the operation.     

Julius Dollinger (1849–1937)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Jean Talairach (1911–2007). An untold story of the pioneer of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery

ContextThe Department of neurosurgery of the Sainte-Anne Hospital hosted Jean Talairach who created and developed stereotactic neurosurgery in France. Despite numerous neurosurgical and neuroscientific achievements, little is known about the life of Jean Talairach.MethodsSystematic screening of Sainte-Anne Hospital Museum, Henry Ey Library, and Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire de Santé funds, and medical databases using the term “Jean Talairach”.ResultsJean Talairach started his medical career at the Sainte-Anne Hospital in 1942 as a psychiatrist and became a neurosurgeon due to his interest in stereotactic neurosurgery. During World War II, Jean Talairach joined the French Resistance in Paris, then the French First Army. Jean Talairach created an original and specific stereotactic methodology with appropriate stereotactic frame and tools and performed one of the first human stereotactic surgeries in 1948. He described the reference lines passing by the anterior and posterior commissures in 1952 and developed a tridimensional co-planar stereotactic atlas of the human brain. With the collaboration of Jean Bancaud, he created stereo-electroencephalography to investigate patients suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy. The “Sainte-Anne school” trained French and foreign stereotactic and functional neurosurgeons ensuring the spread of Jean Talairach's innovative ideas. Jean Talairach retired in 1980.ConclusionJean Talairach's achievements encapsulate the evolution of neurosurgery in France during the 20th century. He developed an original stereotactic methodology including a tridimensional stereotactic atlas of the human brain and a stereotactic frame. He created stereo-electroencephalography, which remains the gold-standard to investigate patients suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy.     

Georg Händel (1622-97): the barber-surgeon father of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle (Saale) in Germany. After initial musical education in Germany and Italy, he came to London as a young man and spent the rest of his life in England. Until recently, little has been written of his early life in either the English or the German literature, and it is not widely known that he was the son of Georg H?ndel, a barber-surgeon of repute. When his father's name is mentioned, it is usually to claim that he actively discouraged his son's musical education. Georg H?ndel lived in a turbulent time; he became an eminent surgeon who served as valet and barber to the Courts of Saxony and Brandenburg, as well as a distinguished citizen of Halle. In describing his surgical duties, we show how these differed from those of barbers in England and France at that time. Barbers in Germany were less controlled, freer to practise as they pleased, and H?ndel himself had important duties in public health and forensic medicine. George Frideric was the first son of the second marriage, born when his father was 63 years of age. We aim also to dispel the notion that H?ndel's influence on his son's career was as obstructive as has been claimed, but rather that he was a responsible father with his children's interests at heart. This is shown in the success achieved by all his children, most of whom followed their father into medicine, while George Frideric became the most famous of them all, being regarded by posterity as one of the greatest composers.     

Historical vignette. Dominique Anel: father of the Hunterian ligation?

On December 12, 1785, the famous British surgeon John Hunter ligated an artery that was feeding a popliteal aneurysm. During the procedure he ligated only the proximal side of the artery and left the aneurysm sac untouched. This is frequently viewed as a landmark event in the history of surgery. There is considerable evidence, however, that another surgeon, Dominique Anel, performed a substantially similar procedure more than 75 years earlier. It is possible that the weight Hunter's name has borne in the history of surgery has led to the procedure's bearing his name rather than that of the lesser known Anel.     

A neurologist in the origin of European and International neurosurgery: Clovis-Julien-Désiré Vincent (1879-1947)

Vincent Clovis began his carrier as a neurologist and finally became neurosurgeon at an advanced age. He is considered the founder of French neurosurgery, and after Harvey Williams Cushing, Europe's first neurosurgeon. He was mainly interested in pituitary tumors, in cerebral abscesses and in cerebral oedema.     

Uppsala and the university of Illinois: the enduring legacy of professor Tord Skoog (1915–1977)

An enduring relationship developed between the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and the University of Illinois, Chicago, as a result of the authors two opportunities to study and lecture in Uppsala through the auspices of the Fulbright Scholarship Awards, first at the invitation of Professor Tord Skoog in 1960, and then by Professor Valdemar Skoog in 2003. Some anecdotes and observations related to these dates and the 43-year interval are presented.Presented at the American Association of Plastic Surgeons Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 12 May 2004