History of General Surgery

It is believed that the first general surgery was performed in the Neolithic Age. They performed a procedure called trepanning which is drilling a hole in the skull to relieve built up pressure in the brain. Egyptian carvings dating back to 2500BC describes procedures like circumcision and amputation.

Ancient Egyptian medical books have been found that describe other general procedures including repairing a broken bone and mending serious wounds. The Egyptians are also credited as having developed plastic surgery as early as 2000BC.

In the Middle Ages, use declined as it was viewed inferior to medicine. The practice was left to barbers who traveled from village to village cutting hair, pulling teeth, removing tumors, stitching wounds, and bloodletting. The red and white striped pole that is used to identify barbershops today actually got its design from that era. The red stripes symbolize the body’s blood and the white stripes stand for bandages.

In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, many discoveries took place. The French surgeon, Ambroise Pare, is often referred to as the father of modern general surgery. Pare was able to successfully tie off arteries to control bleeding which essentially eliminated the need of cauterizing or searing the bleeding part of the artery.

Up to this time, procedures were still limited to less critical areas of the body. They did not penetrate the skin too deeply and surgeons rarely opened the abdomen, chest or skull because of the pain it caused the patient and the risk of infection. This changed in 1846 when William Morton used anesthesia to mask pain during a dental procedure.

Medical procedures really made some leaps and bounds in the late 1800’s when surgeons began performing new types of operations on the abdomen, brain and spinal cord. At the turn of the 20th century, general surgery became a more effective procedure than ever before.

Other technological advances allowed for increasingly difficult and complex operations. The development of the heart lung machine allowed general surgeons to more easily perform operations on these organs.

New techniques and discoveries continue to advance the field.

Also read our article about Knee Surgery