Table Of ContentOPERATIONS THAT
MADE HISTORY
Second Edition
OPERATIONS THAT
MADE HISTORY
Second Edition
Harold Ellis
C.B.E., D.M., M.Ch., F.R.C.S.
Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University of London
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ellis, Harold, 1926- author.
Title: Operations that made history / Harold Ellis.
Description: Second edition. | Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, [2018] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018030132| ISBN 9781138334311 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780367001551 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780429434280 (ebook)
Subjects: | MESH: General Surgery--history | Famous Persons | Surgical
Procedures, Operative--methods | Case Reports
Classification: LCC RD19 | NLM WO 11.1 | DDC 617.092/2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018030132
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To my wife Wendy,
Our children and
grandchildren
CONTENTS
Introduction ix
Part I Major Breakthroughs
1 The First Ovariotomy 3
2 Ligation of the Abdominal Aorta 15
3 Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy 25
4 The First Successful Gastrectomy 31
5 Splenectomy for Rupture of the Spleen 39
6 Renal Transplantation 45
Part II Innovations
7 I Dressed the Wound and God Healed Him 53
8 The Birth of Anaesthesia 59
9 The Compound Fracture 71
10 Electrosurgery 79
11 Minimal Access Surgery 87
viii contents
Part III Famous Patients
12 Queen Caroline’s Umbilical Hernia 99
13 Lord Nelson’s Amputation 105
14 The Sebaceous Cyst of George IV 113
15 Henry Thompson and Two Royal Bladder Stones 119
16 The Appendiceal Abscess of Edward VII 129
17 The Empyema of George V 137
18 The Pneumonectomy of George VI 145
19 Envoi 155
INTRODUCTION
What constitutes an historic operation? Being a didactic under-
graduate professor, I cannot help but answer this question by
attempting a classification of the subject. After much study, I have
divided such operations into Ellis type I, type II and type III.
Type I is the obvious group – the operation that today’s newspapers
love to describe as a ‘major breakthrough’ – the success never
achieved before – the first gastrectomy, or pneumonectomy, or
heart transplant. As an important rider to this it is usually, but not
always, necessary for the operation to be not only original but also
successful. Again and again throughout medical history there have
been one or more unsung assays into something new, with fatal
consequences, followed by the first loudly publicised success. Both
the unsuccessful pioneer surgeon and his unfortunate dead patient
pass into relative obscurity, in contrast to the worldwide acclaim of
the victor. The unsuccessful gastrectomies of Jules Péan and Ludwig
Rydigier are known only to the connoisseurs of medical history, but
every medical student is familiar with the name of Theodor Billroth,
whose gastrectomy in 1881 had that important qualification for an
Ellis type I famous operation – his patient survived.
The Ellis type II operation may be insignificant in itself but marks
the introduction of some important point in surgical technique.
The best example of this was the removal, in 1846, of a fairly trivial
cyst of the neck, which qualifies for its historic importance because
it was the first demonstration by William T.G. Morton of ether
anaesthesia. Another example was the first drainage of an axillary
abscess by means of a tube drain. The surgeon was Lord Joseph
Lister, and the patient happened to be Queen Victoria; as far as I
know, she did not give informed consent for this experiment.
