Aug. 20, 2015
When Texas gained its independence in 1836, surgery was a medical treatment of last resort, always painful and often fatal. Now the average American can expect to undergo atleast seven surgeries in a lifetime. The evolution of surgery from the earliest civilizations to modern day advances is on display in the Texas Medical Association’s (TMA’s) History of Medicine Gallery.
TMA’s “Cutting
Edge: A History of Surgery” presented by the association's History of Medicine Committee, honors the centennial of the Texas Surgical
Society in 2015 by exploring improvements that allowed surgery to become
essential to medicine. The exhibit features stories of the primitive and precarious
nature of early Texas surgery from the time of the Spanish explorers to the
Alamo to advances in anesthesia and safer surgery around the turn of century. “Uneven quality of surgical
care leads to formation of Texas Surgical Society in 1915,” said Texas
Surgical Society Archivist Mellick Sykes, MD. Meanwhile “Texas’ surgical
reputation has skyrocketed from backwater to beacon” from the early years of
the Texas republic to the present, Dr. Sykes said.
Artifacts on display in the
exhibit display like the steam atomizer, a device used to sterilize surgical
incisions or wounds, illustrate both the inventiveness and limitations of the
early Texas surgeons. Also on display is the Bohler Frame, an early 20th
century metal device used to keep fractured bones stable during the
post-surgery healing process. Cutting
Edge: A History of Surgery also recognizes the role of pioneering Texas
surgeons who brought international acclaim to Texas with their innovations and
skill in transplant surgery.
Click to download high-res version
“The
TMA commitment to the history of medicine — the successes,
failures, and struggles of our doctors and our institutions — is deep and longstanding. The
TMA archives preserve this story,” Dr. Sykes said.
Click to download high-res version
Editor’s note: “Cutting Edge — A
History of Surgery” is in the History of Medicine Gallery
on the ground floor of the TMA building at 401 W. 15th St. in Austin through March
2016. It is free and open to the public 9 am-5 pm Monday through Friday. For
more information or to arrange a tour, call (512) 370-1552 or (800) 880-1300,
ext. 1552, or email knowledge[at]texmed[dot]org.
TMA is the largest state medical
society in the nation, representing more than 48,000 physician and medical
student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county medical
societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the
health of all Texans.
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Contact: Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320;
email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Marcus Cooper (512) 370-1382; cell: (512) 650-5336; email: marcus.cooper[at]texmed[dot]org
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