This Medical Life

While I amputated one man’s thigh, there lay at one time thirteen, all beseeching to be taken next… It was a strange thing to feel my clothes stiff with blood, and my arms powerless with the exertion of using the knife.” – Charles Bell, Surgeon at the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. Hippocrates said that ‘war is the only proper school for surgeons’ and, throughout history, we have become experts at batt...

This Medical Life is a podcast for GPs, specialists, allied health professionals, and medical students but in this episode we share content related to the Australian Podcast Awards and talkback radio. Dr Travis Brown and Steve Davis are taking a short break so this episode is a little different. You might consider it an audio snack. It features two pieces of content. The first is the 15-minute sub...

Intestinal problems are as ancient as human’s themselves. However, the first case was only documented in the 18th century by a great Italian anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni, of a 20 year old man who had died with fever, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhoea. The autopsy findings by Morgagni are consistent with what we know today as Inflammatory Bowel Disease. As time continued, so did our know...

The sun has always been special to us. Most cultures, particularly in ancient times, worshipped it as a God to be feared. In modern society, we recognise both the potential life-affirming and life-dangers that the sun poses. In this episode, we focus on the beneficial side the sun provides to us via Vitamin D. We discuss the pros and cons of testing, treating, and managing Vitamin D in patients, a...

In the 19th century, a French doctor recognised a subset of patients with joint disease that didn’t fit the traditional diagnoses of gout or osteoarthritis. These patients were predominately female with affected hands and fingers, joint stiffness, and often had a low socioeconomic background (gout was traditionally associated with high socioeconomic status). Later, an English Physician noted an im...

The first ever recorded blood pressure was done by Stephen Hales in 1733 with a glass tube inserted into the artery of a horse. It would be well over a century for us to develop a non-invasive technique to measure blood pressure and another century to understand its significance. Today, hypertension is one of the most common conditions facing General Practitioners. However, in the pursuit of lower...

Streptococcus pyogenes is a critical micro-organism for every doctor to know about. It is a gram positive coccus that grows in chains and has the potential to cause significant morbidity and even mortality. It has taken us centuries to learn the significance of this infection and is a testament to modern day medicine that its complications are rare. This is the story of Streptococcus Pyogenes. Sup...

Marfan syndrome is a disease of connective tissue. Patients who have this condition often have a tall stature, long slender arms, legs and fingers but it is the connective tissue in and around organs that is the greatest risk. This is a genetic disease that was first recognised at the end of the 19th century and the gene responsible identified in the last few decades. Unfortunately, with the prope...

There are three known transmissible cancers in the mammalian world. Surprisingly, two of the three are found in Tasmanian Devils. They are called the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) and one Devil can pass this tumour to another Devil via direct contact. These DFTD’s have had a devastating impact on the Devils population and even threatened their survival. Over the last few decades, researchers...

Ancient Egyptians called it podagra (foot-trap), Hippocrates the unwalkable disease, and the 17th and 18th century it became known as the Disease of Kings. Gout has long been associated with rich foods and an affluent lifestyle. Yet, its significance in the modern era cannot be overstated. Commonly thought of a joint disease, the systemic impact are becoming increasingly apparent. Join us as we di...

Marijuana has a complex history. It seems every society has grappled with balancing the positive and negative effects. Historical records indicate that Ancient Chinese farmers were the first to grow this plant but also were the first to reject it as a socially acceptable drug. In the middle ages, Pope Innocent VIII took this fight to the extreme associating it with witchcraft and sorcery labelling...

In 1770, in the small German town of Bonn, a child was born that would impact the world on a par with great emperors and conquerors. Yet, it was not with a sword or bloodshed but with imagination and composition. This man was Ludwig van Beethoven and his influence is possibly even more important today than when he was alive. Ludwig was one of seven children but only three of them survived beyond i...

In the 1930s, outbreaks of a mysterious febrile illness occurred with abattoir workers in Queensland in Australia. Physicians investigated these patients but no cause was able to be identified. To complicate matters, there wasn’t any consistency between those who got sick, the area where they worked in the abattoir nor the animals with which they worked with. Hence, the name has come to us a...

Pauline Gross was a seamstress in 1895 who had seen family members die at an early age from cancer. At the time, one of her clients was a pathologist by the name of Dr Aldred Scott Warthin and confided in him her fear that that this would be her fate too. The two combined to record the most comprehensive family history ever created. Dr Warthin called them ‘Family G’. In the 1960s, Dr H...

In 1951, Australian anthropologists reported on a unique neurodegenerative disease from Papua New Guinea. The natives called it ‘Kuru’ which meant to tremble or to be afraid and it certainly struck fear into those who saw it. Through amazing investigative work and serendipity, a veterinary pathologist in the United States saw the histology of a Kuru from the brain and noted it looked a...

In 1924, a previously well 20 year old woman presented to hospital with a headache and general fatigue. Her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died in 6 days. Over 6000 cases occurred within 1924. The search was on to find the cause. Fortunately, in 1935, a breakthrough occurred. We know the virus today as the Japanese Encephalitis Virus. The vast majority of people who become infected with JE...

In 1951, two Haematology fellows, Dr William Harrington and Dr James Hollingsworth, agreed upon an experiment. They would ask the next patient with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP) to donate 500ml of blood. Then, whoever was a blood-type match would get the transfusion and see if they got the disease. The results were immediate and dramatic. Surprisingly, the fact that platelets are the f...

In 1347, the European world encountered one of history’s greatest tragedies: the great plague. Today, it is known by many names: the black death, the black plague, or the great mortality. Whatever name we give it though, one thing is clear: those who lived through this time genuinely believed this disease would eradicate of humanity The true toll of this plague is unknown. Tens of millions o...

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is an under-recognised genetic condition that causes elevated cholesterol in patients and affects approximately 1/250 people in Australia. Approximately 100,000 Australians have FH but only ~5% are diagnosed. This needs to change. FH causes early cardiovascular disease and can be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in those affect. How do I know? Beca...

Scattered throughout history are epidemics of catarrhal or campaign jaundice (the latter was experienced during military campaigns). The pivotal moment was during World War II where troops became sick with jaundice due to a contaminated Yellow Fever vaccine and sporadic jaundice outbreaks in different countries. While the symptoms appeared similar (ie jaundice), one did not confer immunity to the...

King Henry VIII was both a literal and a historical giant but his reputation of brutality and malevolence has few equals. He took power at the start of the English renaissance and was responsible for the English reformation. He had inroads into public health and regulated medical practitioners but also oversaw the enactment of vicious traitorous laws where could be jailed or executed for actions (...

How we teach those who come after us is as important as the knowledge we learn for ourselves. Medicine throughout the ages has been an apprenticeship style model, but over the last few hundred years this has changed to tertiary education. However, is this the right model? Our special guest is Dr Tristan Rutland who is an Anatomical Pathologist at Liverpool hospital and teaches at Western Sydney Un...

At the end of the 14th century, a young woman is skating on a frozen canal and suddenly falls injuring herself. Her name is Lidwina. Over the next 30 years her body deteriorated due to a disease we know today as Multiple Sclerosis. Lidwina faced this illness admirably and was canonized in the late 19th century for her fortitude and faith. The breakthrough for MS is attributed to Jean-Martin Charco...

Ancient Egyptians hold a special place in history. Their civilization, religions, gods, conquests, traditions and rituals are some of the most well documented and fascinating. Throughout the centuries, we have been able to piece together the health and medicine of our ancient ancestors and the mummification process plays a significant part in this. Which brings us to story the of Ramesses III and...

If there is one constant throughout all of medical history, it is the value of urine. Our ancient ancestors believed they predict a patient’s recovery (or not) upon examination of their urine to the middle ages where they used a scale of colour, thickness, and sediment. Urine was also used in a range of non-medical and even commercial uses that boggles the modern mind. This episode examines...