Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) is often called the "father of modern neurosurgery." He was the founder of American neurosurgery.
He studied medicine at Harvard Medical School at received degree in 1895. He did residency in surgery under the guidance of famous surgeon , William Halsted at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Cushing learned meticulous surgical technique from his mentor. As was standard then, Cushing spent time in Europe ; he worked in the laboratories of Theodore Kocher in Bern, where he investigated the physiology of CSF. He described Cushing reflex, relationship between blood pressure and intracranial pressure.
While traveling through Europe , he met several important surgical personalities , including Victor Horsley.
The specialty of neurosurgery was born at Johns Hopkins. In 1900, Harvey Cushing completed his surgical training. After the European grand tour and a year in Kocher's laboratory in Bern where he studied the effects of head injury, Cushing returned to the surgical faculty. In the ensuing 12 years, he founded the specialty of neurosurgery and established the characteristics of the field which endure to this day.
By the time Cushing accepted the Harvard Chair of surgery in 1912, his work at Johns Hopkins had established him as the outstanding young surgeon in the United States. Cushing brought Halsted's meticulous surgical technique to the new field and added Osler's careful clinical observation and his own penchant for accurate documentation. His clinical contributions are legendary: the use of x-rays in surgical practice, physiological saline for irrigation during surgery, understanding the pituitary's function, founding the clinical specialty of endocrinology, the anesthesia record, the use of blood pressure measurement in surgical practice, and the physiological consequences of increased intracranial pressure.
One of the principal inducements for Cushing to stay in Baltimore upon completion of his residency was his appointment as Director of the Hunterian Laboratory. Our concept of the clinician/scientist in medicine largely derives from Cushing's vision of the Hunterian as a place for young physicians to learn to do research.One of the earliest products of the Hunterian experience was Walter Dandy.
The specialty of neurosurgery was born at Johns Hopkins. In 1900, Harvey Cushing completed his surgical training. After the European grand tour and a year in Kocher's laboratory in Bern where he studied the effects of head injury, Cushing returned to the surgical faculty. In the ensuing 12 years, he founded the specialty of neurosurgery and established the characteristics of the field which endure to this day.
By the time Cushing accepted the Harvard Chair of surgery in 1912, his work at Johns Hopkins had established him as the outstanding young surgeon in the United States. Cushing brought Halsted's meticulous surgical technique to the new field and added Osler's careful clinical observation and his own penchant for accurate documentation. His clinical contributions are legendary: the use of x-rays in surgical practice, physiological saline for irrigation during surgery, understanding the pituitary's function, founding the clinical specialty of endocrinology, the anesthesia record, the use of blood pressure measurement in surgical practice, and the physiological consequences of increased intracranial pressure.
One of the principal inducements for Cushing to stay in Baltimore upon completion of his residency was his appointment as Director of the Hunterian Laboratory. Our concept of the clinician/scientist in medicine largely derives from Cushing's vision of the Hunterian as a place for young physicians to learn to do research.One of the earliest products of the Hunterian experience was Walter Dandy.
He described endocrine syndrome due to basophilic adenoma of pituitary gland ( Cushing disease).
With Percival Bailey in 1926, Cushing introduced the first rational approach to the classification of brain tumors.
At age of 32 , he became associate professor of surgery at John Hopkins Hospital and was in full charge of cases of surgery of the central nervous system.
He made (with Kocher) a study of ICP and (with Sherrington)
contributed much to the localization of the cerebral centers.
In 1911, he was appointed surgeon-in-chief at
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. He became a
professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School starting in 1912. From 1933 to 1937, when he retired, he worked at Yale University School of Medicine.
In the beginning of the 20th century he developed many of the basic surgical techniques for operating on the brain. This established him as one of the foremost leaders and experts in the field. Under his influence neurosurgery became a new and autonomous surgical discipline.
He considerably improved the survival of patients after
difficult brain operations for intracranial tumors. He used x-rays to diagnose
brain tumors. He used electrical stimuli for study of the human sensory cortex. He had operated more than 2000 cases brain tumors.
Cushing was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize of biography in 1926 for a book recounting the life of one of the fathers
of modern medicine, Sir William Osler.He developed many surgical instruments that are still in use today, most notably the Cushing forceps, He also developed a surgical magnet while working with the Harvard Medical Unit in France during World War I to extract bullets from the heads of wounded soldiers.
Sources: Wikipedia
Y. Neurological surgery ( H.R. Winn ) Elsevier Saunders
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery
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