Industrial Period Surgery

• James Simpson

  • 1847, used chloroform after experimenting on himself and friends
  • chloroform was opposed by public until 1853 when Queen Victoria used it in childbirth
• Cocaine

  • in 1850s, coca leaves were used as a local anaesthetic in South America
  • in 1891, it could be chemically produced and was used often
• Disadvantages of anaesthetics

  • difficult to get the dose right with early painkillers
  • surgeons tried more difficult surgeries
  • Church believed it was interfering with God's will
• Joseph Lister

  • pioneered antiseptic surgery using carbolic acid to keep infection at bay
  • father of antiseptic surgery
  • biggest killer was infection
• Ignaz Semmelweiss

  • 1847, pioneer of antiseptics
  • reduces death rate from 35% to less than 1% on his maternity ward by making doctors wash hands in calcium chloride
  • despite publishing his results, few hospitals adapted this
• Joseph Lister

  • after Pasteur's germ theory, he used a operating room and surgical instruments sterilised with carbolic acid
  • carried out experiments on frogs, could see changes easier
  • reduced mortality rate in his operations from 46 to 15% in 3 years
  • 1871, invented a machine that sprayed carbolic acid over everything
• Aseptic Surgery

  • Koch discovered in 1878 that disease was spread by contaminated surface
  • led to attempts of creating a germ free environment to avoid spread of infection
• More Key Individuals

  • Charles Chamberland - French, invented a steam steriliser for medical instruments
  • Gustav Neuber - German, has first sterile operating theatre, published paper in 1886, many others followed
  • William Hasted - American, started having his team wear surgical gloves
• What was the impact of these surgical changes in cleanliness?

  • massively reduced risk of infection
  • big three of pain, infection and blood loss was slowly beginning to be resolved