The History of Medicine

This week, we talk about plastic surgery, at least up until the World Wars. It starts with fixing noses, but through the work of many a doctor, we improve our skin grafts quite a bit. We'll also talk about bone grafts, and the work of William Macewen. Tubed Pedicle Graft Image Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://...

Sorry in advance about audio quality issues. I've just gotten a new microphone, and am still ironing out the kinks. Anyway, this week, we'll talk about orthopedics, or the study of correcting bones and muscles. It starts with George Friedrich Louis Stromeyer, who invents new procedures for correcting club foot. Over many years, Hugh Owen Thomas and his nephew, Robert Jones, would carry t...

This week, we talk about urology, the study of functions and disorders of the urinary system. Urology starts early on with lithotomies, or the removal of bladder stones, and then progresses to lithotrities, where the stones are crushed and washed out. We'll also talk about the origins of radiation therapy, which gets used for lots of urology-related cancers. Website: http://thehistoryofmedici...

This week, we talk about the development of electro cauterization, where you use heat to stop bleeding or cut more easily in surgery. We mostly have to thank William Bovie, who invented the device to do this, and Harvey Cushing, the pioneering neurosurgeon who first started using Bovie's tech, and convinced his fellow surgeons to follow suit. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.co...

This week, we keep trying to figure out blood transfusions, in the pursuit of helping those with circulatory shock. Oswald Hope Robertson makes the first blood bank, Sergei Yudin starts the first cadaver blood bank, and Percy Lane Oliver founds the first blood donor service through the Red Cross. Finally, Landsteiner from last week returns, to describe the Rhesus factor. Website: http://thehistory...

Let's learn about shock. We'll start with a whole bunch of scientists trying to figure out what it is, dating back literally to the Ancient Greeks. Even as we better our understanding of shock, we then have to treat it. The first good solution we come up with is blood transfusion, at least for bleeding-related shock, but even that has its complications. Blundell's Blood Pump Apparat...

This week we'll begin talking about some of the innovations in surgery that we learn from the many wars that break out in the 20th century. To start, we'll take a look at wound treatment and infection prevention, featuring a whole cast of characters, with doctors from all over the world making advances. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodc...

This week, let's talk about Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, who discovers X-rays, an incredibly important technology for surgery. With his newly found technology, we can see bones and foreign objects inside our bodies for the first time, although of course a lot of work still has to be done to really bring the technology to fruition. Albert von Kolliker's Hand X-ray Website: http://thehistoryofm...

This week, surgery will get a helping hand from some great scientists, who pave the way for the field of pathology, or the study of the causes of disease. We'll talk about James Paget, Rudolf Virchow, and Robert Koch, each of whom contributed significantly to our understanding and the diagnosis of diseases. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodca...

We continue the achievements of Joseph Lister, who continues to innovate upon carbolic acid for literally decades. It takes time, but eventually a lot of other surgeons come around to his ideas, unlocking new possibilities for surgical procedures. Eventually, those evolve even further into aseptic methods, just keeping bacteria away instead of killing them, many of which we still use today. Websit...

Now that anesthesia's been figured out, we still need to address the safety of surgery. Early on, infections were extremely common in surgical procedures, but this week we'll take our first steps towards correcting that, with the help of Joseph Lister, who invented antiseptic surgical techniques. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gma...

While we're discussing anesthesia generally, let's talk about local anesthesia, where the patient is kept awake. The first local anesthetic to come into use widely was cocaine, thanks in large part to the work of Carl Koller, but also many others. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHisto...

This week, let's tackle one of those first big problems we talked about: the horrible pain of surgery. Many many doctors and scientists contributed, but eventually the solution is general anesthesia, or making a patient unconscious to avoid the pain. It starts with what were once recreational drugs, but eventually becomes ubiquitous, and is to have great benefits to surgery. Website: http://t...

This week, I want to go over the general state of surgery before the big innovations happen, around the 1800s. There's a lot to fix before we're anywhere near the surgery we know today, but we have to start somewhere. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHistoryOfMedicine/ Transcripts and...

Here's one more bonus episode before the real season starts up next week. This one's about Robert Liston, a legendary surgeon of his time, and some crazy stories of his exploits and achievements, like his sub 30 second leg amputation. And that's just for starters! Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www...

While researching for season 2, I stumbled upon this story that I felt absolutely deserved to be shared with all of you. We're not back yet with regular episodes, but I promise I'm hard at work! In the mean time, here's the story of Jan De Doot, a man with stones both figurative and literal. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gma...

This week, we wrap up the season with antibiotic resistance. Since the inception of antibiotics, we've noticed resistance developing as well, but frankly haven't done much about it. I'll go through how we got here, and what we can still do about it. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/T...

This week, I talk through the discoveries of a few leftover antibiotic classes. I didn't quite have enough for a full episode for each, but I still wanted to throw some credit around. First up, we have glycopeptides, the first one being vancomycin. Edmund Kornfeld, working at Eli Lilly, is credited with the discovery. The second class of drugs is quinolones, which are turned up by two compani...

This week, the tragedies of chloramphenicol coincide with the tragedy of thalidomide, an anti-nausea drug that unfortunately causes birth defects. The press caused by these events, political current events, and the efforts of an FDA regulator, Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, eventually led to new legislation and standards, that helped create the FDA as we know it today. Website: http://thehistoryofmedi...

As promised, this week chloramphenicol begins to show some serious problems. Dr. Albe Watkins and Edgar Elfstrom both lost children, and push for new restrictions on the drug. They are at least somewhat successful, but the mid twentieth century is a different time from now, and it will take more tragedy before we begin to see bigger change. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-ma...

Next up, we discover the next big, broad-spectrum antibiotic. A company called Parke-Davis investigates medicines from around the world, and through the work of many scientists, they find yet another new bacteria, and another new drug. The drug is dubbed Chloromycetin, or chloramphenicol generically, and it will mark the beginning of the end of the golden age of antibiotics. Nitrobenzene Structure...

This week, we leave the US, and travel to the Phillipines, where we are still looking for new antibiotics in the dirt. One Dr. Abelardo Aguilar, working for the company Eli Lilly, eventually discover a new class of antibiotics, known as macrolides, and Robert Woodward Burns our genius chemist makes a re-appearance. Erythromycin Structure Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail:...

This week we learn about a motley crew of great scientists and researchers, including Yellapragada Subbarao, Benjamin Duggar, and Alexander Finlay, from numerous companies, who all work to bring us our first antibiotics that target both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Aureomycin Structure Terramycin Structure Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedici...

This week we take a short detour, to describe one application of Waksman and Schatz's work on streptomycin. Our hero this time is Austin Bradford Hill, a mathematician who, with innovative study design, is able to definitely prove that streptomycin can treat tuberculosis, a notoriously complicated disease. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout.com/ E-mail: thehistoryofmedicinepodcas...

After Fleming and the Oxford gang kick off the antibiotic revolution, others are inspired, and seek new ways to discover their own antibiotics. Selman A Waksman assembles a team at Rutgers University, and discovers an entirely new way to find antibiotics. They create the next miracle drug, streptomycin, further increasing the reach of our medicines. Website: http://thehistoryofmedicine.buzzsprout....