Mathieu Jaboulay (1860-1913) and His Innovations in Vascular and General Surgery.

Mathieu Jaboulay (1860-1913) was an inventor in vascular and general surgery. He fabricated many new surgical techniques and instruments such as Jaboulay method for vascular sutures, Jaboulay anastomotic button, and Jaboulay amputation, known also as hemipelvectomy. In addition, he was a pioneer in heterologous transplantation and sympathectomy. He found death suddenly in a terrible train crash. He was a reputable Professor of Surgery at Lyon Faculty of Medicine with prestigious students in vascular surgery.

The past and present of liver suture.

Since the first attempts at resecting parts of diseased livers in the late nineteenth century, hemorrhage has been the main obstacle for surgeons. One of the first hemostasis techniques in liver resection was liver suture. The idea of suturing the liver in order to perform resection was proposed by a team of Russian and Polish surgeons from Kharkiv University in today's Ukraine. The liver suture became widely popular and has been used in various forms throughout the surgical world. Further into the twentieth century, it has lost much of its popularity; however, over more than 100 years of existence it has seen several peaks in interest. Currently, it is still being used by some liver surgeons as it is one of the cheapest ways of obtaining a bloodless liver parenchyma transection.

History and evolution of the Kessler repair.

The "grasping technique" described by Isidor Kessler and Fuad Nissim in 1969 is a popular method of flexor tendon repair. Different authors have modified this technique to the point where the so-called "modified Kessler technique" bears little resemblance to the original description. This article sheds light on the life and contributions of Isidor Kessler, and examines the evolution of the Kessler technique and the origin of grasping and locking tendon repairs. We also discuss the problems associated with eponymous descriptions of tendon repair techniques and propose an alternative descriptive system.

The history of barbed sutures.

Ligatures have been used for millennia to close wounds. Sterilization and synthetic polymers that degrade in a commensurate fashion with wound healing have been the most significant improvements in these age-old devices. However, the constricting loop of a traditional suture and subsequent ischemia ("approximate, don't strangulate") still account for the most common cause of wound dehiscence-necrosis. Inspired by the quill of the North American porcupine, I envisioned a bidirectional array of barbs that could secure tissue without relying on constricting loops. One set of barbs could anchor the other. In this article, I document the development process of these barbed sutures from concept to patent to manufacture and US Food and Drug Administration approval. Knotless, strong, and easy to place, barbed sutures could foreseeably supplant conventional sutures, particularly as endoscopic procedures become more common. They also offer the intriguing potential to suspend ptotic tissues without surgical intervention.

Barbed sutures in breast reconstruction.

Postoperative closure techniques in breast reconstruction have remained largely unchanged over the past 75 years, despite recent use of adhesives and subcuticular staples and the advent of self-anchoring barbed sutures. In this article, the author discusses the applications for barbed sutures in breast reconstruction and describes specific techniques. Innovations in barbed suture material are also described, and the author's personal experiences are presented in comparison with traditional suturing techniques.

New and emerging uses of barbed suture technology in plastic surgery.

Barbed sutures first received US Food and Drug Administration approval for soft tissue approximation in 2005 and early adopters readily embraced this device to develop new techniques. It has become apparent that the advantages are more than just "skin deep." Superficial and deep fascia, cartilage, tendon, joint capsule, and fibrous periprosthetic capsules can also be manipulated. Barbed sutures have revolutionized our approach to facial rejuvenation and body contouring by enhancing our ability to quilt and powerfully lift tissue. The elimination of surgical drains and shorter surgical times has made this a true boon for plastic surgeons as well as many other surgical specialists. This article summarizes some of the current and evolving applications of this exciting new tool.

The core competencies of James Marion Sims, MD.

The concept of core competencies in graduate medical education was introduced by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education of the American Medical Association to semiquantitatively assess the professional performance of students, residents, practitioners, and faculty. Many aspects of the career of J. Marion Sims, MD, are exemplary of those core competencies: MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE: Author of the first American textbook related to gynecology. MEDICAL CARE: Innovator of the Sims' Vaginal Speculum, Sims' Position, Sims' Test, and vesico-/rectovaginal fistulorrhaphy; advocated abdominal exploration for penetrating wounds; performed the first cholecystostomy. PROFESSIONALISM: Served as President of the New York Academy of Medicine, the American Medical Association, and the American Gynecologic Society. INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS/COMMUNICATION: Cared for the indigent, hearthless, indentured, disenfranchised; served as consulting surgeon to the Empress Eugénie (France), the Duchess of Hamilton (Scotland), the Empress of Austria, and other royalty of the aristocratic Houses of Europe; accorded the National Order of the Legion of Honor. PRACTICE-BASED LEARNING: Introduction of silver wire sutures; adoption of the principles of asepsis/antisepsis; adoption of the principles of general anesthesia. SYSTEMS-BASED PRACTICE: Established the Woman's Hospital, New York City, New York, the predecessor of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases; organized the Anglo-American Ambulance Corps under the patronage of Napoleon III. What led him to a life of clinical and humanitarian service? First, he was determined to succeed. His formal medical/surgical education was perhaps the best available to North Americans during that era. Second, he was courageous in experimentation and innovation, applying new developments in operative technique, asepsis/antisepsis, and general anesthesia. Third, his curiosity was not burdened by rigid adherence to old doctrines or antiquated theories. Fourth, he broadened his professional experience and knowledge by travels to renowned intellectual centers in Western Europe. Fifth, he was perceived as cautiously optimistic and judiciously positive as he interacted with patients, students, and colleagues. Courage, confidence, creativity, compassion, charisma, character, and controversy marked his career. His legacy is illustrative and exemplary of the core competencies fostered contemporaneously in graduate medical educational programs.

Evliya Celebi's description of the removal of a musket ball from the brain of a Habsburg Prince: an interesting excerpt from the "Seyahatname".

In the 17th century an Ottoman traveler, Evliya Celebi, was inspired by a dream to embark on a journey across the Ottoman Empire. He traveled far and wide across Europe and North Africa and wrote extensively about his adventures in the Seyahatname. The Seyahatname, or "Book of Travels," is the longest and most detailed travel account in Islamic (if not world) literature. It is a vast panorama of the Ottoman world in the mid-17th century. This article is concerned with Celebi's description of several surgeries that he claimed to have witnessed in Vienna during the year 1665. He describes several procedures, the first and most detailed of which is a fascinating brain operation that seems to be a highly unusual procedure for the time. His impressions of Central European medicine, as viewed by a Muslim from the East, offer an unexplored perspective. We examine what his description tells us about the perceptions and images of surgery and medicine.

Suturing methods and materials with special emphasis on the jaws of giant ants (an old-new surgical instrument).

The historical development of surgical sutures, ligatures, and staples is discussed. The use of the jaws of giant ants, especially in the suturing of bowel injuries, is documented.

Resuscitation great. George W. Crile: a visionary mind in resuscitation.

George Washington Crile was a successful surgeon who lived at the end of the 19th century. He was born on 11 November 1864 on a farm near Chili, Ohio. He became interested in the study of shock after a close friend died from hemorrhage. Crile dedicated his research years to the study of shock, cardiac arrest, and the use of adrenaline. His research on shock and cardiac arrest led to treatment guidelines that are still used today. He also participated in the Spanish-American War and in World War I as a Navy Surgeon and saved the lives of many soldiers with his principles of blood transfusion and sanitation. He is also known in the surgical world as the grandfather of radical neck dissection and received the Gold Lannelongue Medal and prize. Having written over 400 papers and 24 books, George W. Crile died from complications of bacterial endocarditis on 7th January 1943. Although they were published a long time ago, his contributions to medicine remain fundamental to clinical practice in today's operating rooms and critical care units.

Pure tissue repairs: a timely and critical revival.

"The majority of hernias can be satisfactorily repaired by using the tissues at hand. The use of mesh prosthesis should be restricted to those few hernias in which tension or lack of good fascial structures prevents a secure primary repair. This group includes large direct inguinal hernias and incisional hernias in which the defect is too large to close primarily without undue tension. Most recurrent hernias, because of this factor are best repaired with mesh prosthesis". These words, penned in 1960 by Francis Usher have reconfirmed what had been a mantra of the Shouldice Hospital (Usher in 81:847-854, 1960). The Shouldice Hospital has specialized in the treatment of abdominal wall hernias since 1945. It has, since its beginning, insisted on the fact that a thorough knowledge of anatomy coupled with large volumes of surgical cases would lead to unparalleled expertise. It was Cicero who taught us that "Practice, not intelligence or dexterity, will win the day"! Since the seminal contribution of Bassini (1844-1924), there have been no less than 80 procedures imitating his inguinal herniorrhaphy and much more since the introduction of mesh and mesh devices (Iason in Hernia. The Blakiston Company, Philadelphia, pp 475-604, 1940). All have failed to some extent and it appears that the common denominator for these failures was the inability to understand the importance of entering the preperitoneal space. Only Shouldice and McVay (Lotheissen, Narath) realized the shortcoming and have continued to thrive as a successful procedure. Entering the preperitoneal space eliminates any temptation to plicate the posterior inguinal wall, a layer normally deficient in direct inguinal hernias, but it also allows the identification of muscle layers rectus, transversus and internal oblique muscles which will go to reconstruct the posterior inguinal wall, without tension as reported by Schumpelick (Junge in 7(1):17-20, 2003).

[Nephropexy in the course of time. Aspects of an historical surgical technique]. / Die Nephropexie im Wandel der Zeit. Aspekte einer historischen Operationstechnik.

The first successful nephropexy was performed in the year 1881. From this time, surgical therapy of nephroptosis has always been a subject of discussion. A partly uncritical acceptance led to nephropexy being the most performed urological operation at the beginning of the 20th century, with up to 200 different surgical variations. As early as the 15th century, a first description of ren mobilis was made by Alessius de Pedemontanus. The first surgical intervention for the treatment of nephroptosis was performed by Gilmore in 1870. In 1877, the American Dowell from New Orleans tried a fixation of the kidney through a seton, however, this operation failed. Eventually in 1881, Eugen Hahn from Berlin was able to perform the first successful nephropexy, he named this method "nephroraphy". In 1882, the first modification was made by Bassini with sutures through the renal capsule. Finally, the gynaecologist George Edebohl led nephropexy into a great popularity and secured the method through numerous technical innovations. By 1936, approximately 170 different surgical methods existed for fixation of the kidney. An accurate diagnosis is imperative before performing nephropexy. There were times in which this operation was carried out much too often and, therefore, had a bad reputation. However, it is not correct to drop nephropexy altogether as some would prefer. The statement by Professor Voelcker from Halle in the year 1911 that for all those who have a urinary obstruction and those with a beginning dilation, nephropexy is still justified and may - when correctly performed provide many blessings". Nothing needs to be added to this.

One of the Earliest Accounts of Head Wounds in Firdaws al-Hikma by al-Tabari from the 9th Century.

OBJECTIVE: To present the first Arabic text on suturing scalp wounds. METHODS: A related section entitled "On the wounds in the head" from the book Firdaws al-Hikma (Paradise of the Wisdom) written by al-Tabari in the 9th century was identified and analyzed. This work was one of the earliest medical compendiums in the Islamic world during the medieval period. A printed copy of Firdaws al-Hikma edited by Muhammad Zubayr al-Siddiqi was examined, and findings were compared with relevant knowledge in the literature. RESULTS: A notable part of this text is based on appropriate closure of scalp wounds using sutures. Before this work, only the well-known Indian medical book Susruta-Samhita had mentioned closure of scalp wounds using sutures. In his work, al-Tabari recommended using materials made of silk or linen for suturing. He additionally proposed some recipes that have a coating feature that prevents bleeding from the wound after it was closed properly. He also dealt with persistent swelling and provided formulas for solving the problem with special compositions. CONCLUSIONS: Firdaws al-Hikma is a noteworthy work in the history of medicine, and it includes a unique chapter on head wounds. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first mention of suturing scalp cuts in Arabic literature and the second reference in medical literature after the Indian work Susruta-Samhita.