Harvey Cushing


Book Description

Drawing on new collections of intimate personal and family papers, diaries and patient records, Michael Bliss captures Cushings professional and his personal life in remarkable detail. Bliss paints an engaging portrait of a man of ambition, boundless, driving energy, a fanatical work ethic, a penchant for self-promotion and ruthlessness, more than a touch of egotism and meanness, and an enormous appetite for life. Equally important, Bliss traces the rise of American surgery as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers. The book describes how Cushing, working in the early years of the 20th century, developed remarkable new techniques that let surgeons open the skull, expose the brain, and attack tumors--all with a much higher rate of success than previously known.




The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Surgery


Book Description

This handbook covers the technical, social and cultural history of surgery. It reflects the state of the art and suggests directions for future research. It discusses what is different and specific about the history of surgery - a manual activity with a direct impact on the patient’s body. The individual entries in the handbook function as starting points for anyone who wants to obtain up-to-date information about an area in the history of surgery for purposes of research or for general orientation. Written by 26 experts from 6 countries, the chapters discuss the essential topics of the field (such as anaesthesia, wound infection, instruments, specialization), specific domains areas (for example, cancer surgery, transplants, animals, war), but also innovative themes (women, popular culture, nursing, clinical trials) and make connections to other areas of historical research (such as the history of emotions, art, architecture, colonial history). Chapters 16 and 18 of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com




John Hughlings Jackson


Book Description

"John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911) was a preeminent British neurologist in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He began to establish that standing in the 1860s, when he incorporated the evolutionary association psychology of Herbert Spencer into his early analyses of 'loss of speech' (aphasia). Jackson also benefitted from his early connection with the National Hospital, Queen Square, London, becoming its leading theorist. His nuanced theory of cerebral localization was derived from (1) his clinical observations of (what Charcot later called) Jacksonian epilepsy, in combination with (2) his innovation to think about neurophysiological events at the cellular level, as well as from (3) David Ferrier's primate localization data. The result was our modern conception of the seizure focus. The latter was crucial to the beginnings of modern 'brain surgery,' especially at the hands of Victor Horsley. Jackson's influence on the neurophysiology of Charles Sherrington is widely acknowledged but not well defined. In the larger Victorian culture, Jackson was a friend of George Henry Lewes, who was George Eliot's companion. Lewes attributed 'sensibility' to everything in the nervous system, thus maintaining a monist position on the mind-body relation, whereas Jackson maintained a form of psycho-physical parallelism that was actually dualist ('Concomitance'). Throughout his life Jackson had an interest in insanity, which he viewed from the point of view of Spencerian evolution and dissolution. The latter was an important component of Freud's psychoanalysis, which Freud took from Jackson. Late in his life Jackson defined the 'uncinate group of fits,' which was his definition of temporal lobe epilepsy"--




History of Neurology


Book Description

Handbook of Clinical Neurology: Volume 95 is the first of over 90 volumes of the handbook to be entirely devoted to the history of neurology. The book is a collection of historical materials from different neurology professionals. The book is divided into 6 sections and composed of 55 chapters organized around different aspects of the history of neurology. The first section presents the beginnings of neurology: ancient trepanation, its birth in Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt; the emergence of neurology in the biblical text and the Talmud; neurology in the Greco-Roman world and the period following Galen; neurological conditions in the European Middle Ages; and the development of neurology in the 17th and 18th centuries. The second section narrates the birth of localization theory; the beginning of neurology and histological applications, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, surgical neurology and other anatomo-clinical methods. The third section covers further development of the discipline, including methods of neurological illustration and hospitals in neurology and neurosurgery. This section also narrates the history of child neurology, neurodisability and neuroendocrinology. It also features the application of molecular biology on clinical neurology. The fourth section describes the dysfunctions of the nervous system and their history. The fifth and last section covers the regional landmarks of neurology and the different treatments and recovery. The text is informative and useful for neuroscience or neurology professional, researchers, clinical practitioners, mental health experts, psychiatrists, and academic students and scholars in neurology. * A comprehensive accounting of historical developments and modern day advancements in the field of neurology * State-of-the-art information on topics including brain damage and dysfunctions of the nervous system * New treatments and recovery methods from redundancy to vicariation and neural transplantation, amongst others




Textbook of Surgery


Book Description







Al-Mefty's Meningiomas


Book Description

Foremost authorities present the milestone text on meningioma management, now in a fully updated Second Edition Al-Mefty's Meningiomas, Second Edition is the definitive guide to meningioma diagnosis, treatment, and surgery, and reflects over a decade of major advances in the diagnosis and management of both intracranial and spinal meningiomas since the first edition was published. Features: New to this edition: information on molecular biology, natural history and growth rates, the rise of radiosurgery as a viable treatment option, and much more Over 500 high-quality radiographic images and full-color illustrations demonstrate anatomy and surgery In-depth coverage of intraoperative MRI and endoscopic resection Key topics often missing from other meningiomas texts including caseload management, and postoperative quality of life issues This landmark reference will enhance the precision and surgical skills of every clinician or resident in neurosurgery or neurology.