Surgical Instruments History PDF

Chapter II The History of Surgical Instruments The history of surgical instruments follows the larger story of humanity’s continued technological advancement. From microscopic bacteria to massive blue whales, creatures great and small instinctively strive to preserve their lives. What sets humankind...

Chapter II The History of Surgical Instruments The history of surgical instruments follows the larger story of humanity’s continued technological advancement. From microscopic bacteria to massive blue whales, creatures great and small instinctively strive to preserve their lives. What sets humankind apart, is our endless capacity to innovate, and to apply those innovations to increase our health and wellbeing. The history of surgical instruments epitomizes this innovation. Prehistory Many uses of surgical instruments reflect basic, instinctual acts of self-preservation on which our earliest ancestors relied. The first surgical instruments were teeth and hands, used in conjunction with available natural materials like twigs and thorns. The advent of writing systems ushered in the historical period circa 3,500 BC. The discovery of iron and steel followed, moving surgical instruments into the forefront of modernity. Antiquity In ancient medical history looms as large as Hippocrates, the famous physician of Classical Greece and the father of modern medicine. Hippocrates established medicine as a working discipline, distinct from philosophy and religion. He and his followers also produced a significant body of writings and instruction that included surgical directives, using instruments of bronze and iron. Surviving artifacts and period writings demonstrate the sophistication of Greco-Roman surgical instruments. Many of the fundamental instruments still used today, such as scalpels, forceps, scissors, specula, probes and catheters, were well known to the ancients. Roman surgeons worked with both steel and bronze instruments. Arabic During the Dark Ages, classical Western knowledge was maintained in the Islamic world. Much Greco-Roman philosophy and science survived in Arabic translations that eventually resurfaced in the West. Abu al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi, a surgeon in Islamic Spain, made the greatest advancements in surgical instruments during this period. Known as Albucasis in Europe, he produced a renowned 30-volume medical encyclopedia. The most famous volume contained 142 illustrations of surgical instruments and his book was widely translated into European languages and disseminated among medieval surgeons. The Middle Ages Medieval artisans crafted surgical instruments from iron, steel and wood. Metal instruments, including scalpels and saws, often had wooden handles. Unlike the corrosion-resistant bronze favored in Antiquity, these materials easily succumbed to the passage of centuries, which helps explain why fewer medieval instruments have been found than their Greco-Roman counterparts. The Renaissance The Renaissance brought a resurgence of learning, creativity and innovation to Europe. The invention of the printing press allowed for faster and more widespread dissemination of ideas, old and new. This enabled a surge of scientific activity that advanced medicine and surgical instruments. The first book featuring surgical instruments drawn to scale, enabling skilled craftsmen to reproduce them, appeared in France in 1594. The Twentieth & Twenty-First Centuries The 20th century of the Common Era saw more scientific and technological progress than any period of recorded history. In this climate of change, surgical instruments completed the millennia- long journey from stone to stainless steel. The practice of sterilization created many new possibilities for internal surgical procedures, increasing demand. It also put an end to the crafting of surgical instruments out of wood or decorative materials, which did not hold up to the heat of steam sterilization. The corrosion of steel instruments was also a challenge. Chrome and nickel plating offered a partial solution to corrosion, at the end of the 1800s, but the advent of stainless steel finally provided an answer. Several engineers on both sides of the Atlantic independently developed variations of stainless steel in the early 20th century. Mayer and Company created the first stainless steel surgical instruments in 1916 for a British otolaryngologist. Improving Manufacturing and Metallurgy Stainless steel is not actually “stainless” or fully stain-proof. It is stain resistant and does not easily spot, corrode or rust with water the way ordinary, carbon steel does. Stainless steel is ideally suited for the surgical suite, because it is rust resistant, it can be honed to an extremely sharp edge or fine point, and it can be hardened to maintain the delicate, yet precise requirements 143