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’.

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.

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!

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.

April 11th is world Parkinson’s Day. English surgeon James Parkinson was born on April 11th, 1755, and joined the Company of Surgeons in 1784. He described the eponymously named disease in ‘An Essay on the Shaking Palsy’ in 1817. #WorldParkinsonsDay

2 cases of congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis were described by Danish doctor Harald Hirschsprung in 1888, defining the disease, but reports date back to the 1700s. Pyloromyotomy was reported by German surgeon Conrad Ramstedt in 1912, which dramatically increased survival.

The anatomy and function of the recurrent laryngeal nerve was described by Galen in 2nd century CE, which he demonstrated by cutting it in a squealing pig, rendering it silent. Avoiding this structure is crucial in thyroid surgery. Fun fact: a giraffe’s nerve is 15 feet long!