Legends Of Surgeryさんのイラストまとめ

American neurosurgeon Peter Jannetta (1932-2016) was dissecting cranial nerves in the lab when he noticed a blood vessel pressing on a nerve. This led to a microvascular decompression operation for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and other vascular compression syndromes!

Swiss surgeon Fritz de Quervain (1868-1940) described chronic thumb tendon inflammation (de Quervain’s disease) and its operative treatment, identified a type of thyroid disease (de Quervain’s thyroiditis), and is credited with introducing iodized table salt!

Ludwig’s angina, described in 1836 by German physician Wilhelm Friedrich von Ludwig, is an infection of the floor of the mouth. It can block the airway, requiring surgical intervention. The name ‘angina’ comes from the Greek ‘ankhone’ which means ‘a strangling’.

South African born British surgeon Lennox Broster (1889-1965) operated on a 15 y.o. female with virilization, removing the adrenal gland. The gland was hyperplastic, and no tumour was found. He researched further, leading to the discovery of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

John Knowsley Thornton (1845-1904) was a Scottish surgeon and the first to perform an adrenalectomy, in 1889. His patient was a 35 year old woman with hirsutism. The operation was a success (the tumour weighed 20 lbs!) but the patient died 2 years later due to recurrence.

Irish urologist Terence Millin (1903-1980) published a landmark paper in the Lancet on Dec 1, 1946. It described a retropubic approach to the prostate, a game-changer in urological surgery. This led the way to radical retropubic prostatectomies for cancer, still used today.

The fascia that separates the prostate and bladder from the rectum was described in 1836 by French surgeon and anatomist Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers (1808-1872). It’s an important structure in prostate and rectal cancer surgery. He also described the puboprostatic ligaments.

The bones of the fingers and toes are called phalanx (phalanges) after the Ancient Greek army formation. The rows of soldiers are like the arrangement of the digits. The word phalanx originates from the Greek word for log. Now you know!

The Mallampati score is used to predict the ease of endotracheal intubation. Named after anesthesiologist Seshagiri Mallampati who described his study of 210 patients in 1985, after earlier publishing a letter describing a difficult intubation in a woman with a large tongue.

Phrygian cap: common anatomical variant in gallbladder, caused by folding of fundus, no clinical significance. Named for caps worn by people of Phrygia (Turkey) 1200-700 BCE. Became a symbol of liberty. Also seen on Smurfs.