DCS: A surgery sucess story

History

The term "surgery" has its origins in antiquity, the ancient Greek word for which is translated as "manual labour" or "craft". This traditional branch of medicine is mainly concerned with the surgical treatment of illnesses and injuries. In ancient Rome, the profession of a surgeon was divided into various fields of activity: the healing of injuries and fractures and the extraction of teeth, for which multiple metal tools and instruments were used. Hippocrates of Kos is regarded as the founder of medicine as a science. He attributed the causes of illness to an imbalance of bodily fluids. Early findings and innovations by doctors and surgeons of antiquity were passed on and further developed..

Knowledge was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire, and it is only in old manuscripts from medieval monasteries that depictions of surgical procedures during that time have survived. Early evidence of surgical procedures can be traced back to trepanation, the opening of the skull, in skeletal finds and mummies: Surgical procedures using metal tools were performed in Ancient Egypt and by the Aztecs. The history of surgery is also said to go back to the beginnings of mankind: in a Neanderthal skull find, new bone formation around the area of the skull opening can be recognised and another skeleton allows conclusions to be drawn about the amputation of an arm.

Developments in modern surgery

Today's surgery was particularly advanced by the revolutionary discoveries of pain-relieving anaesthesia and bactericidal antisepsis. Until the discovery of anaesthesia, inflamed limbs were amputated while the patient was fully conscious, broken bones or dislocated limbs were treated and teeth were removed along with their roots. Only with the discovery of anaesthetics and painkillers was it possible to put an end to this life-saving but painful method. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that dental procedures were performed under anaesthetic with nitrous oxide. The first dentist who introduced the analgesic effect of nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic for dental procedures in 1844 came from Connecticut in the USA. It is reported that this doctor had a tooth extracted under nitrous oxide anaesthesia after having witnessed the pain-relieving effect of this method the day before at the fairground attraction of a tooth extraction under nitrous oxide anaesthesia. From 1868, nitrous oxide was administered to perform clinical operations under anaesthesia.

Another milestone in the development of modern surgery was the use of bactericidal carbon sprays in the 19th century. Before the introduction of this method, every operation healed only with suppuration. Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) recognised the causes of childbed fever and, around 1850, prescribed the cleaning of hands, instruments and operating table as an order for better hygiene. Robert Koch (1843-1910) and Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) researched the effect of antisepsis under the microscope. The introduction of germ-reducing and bacteria-killing disinfection significantly reduced the mortality rate following surgical procedures. As a result of this realisation, antisepsis was declared the prescribed standard for operations. With the introduction of hygiene standards in the growing cities of the 19th century, a remarkable development beyond medicine was set in motion. People were exposed to fewer pathogenic germs through the disposal of waste and sewage, people lived healthier lives and were able to live much longer. The combination of hygiene and surgery laid the foundations for modern surgery. The rapid development of science and medicine since the 19th and 20th centuries has provided the success story of surgery with important milestones of progress.