300 BC – The Ancient Greeks bathe wounds in wine to prevent infection.
50 – About this time Roman physician-surgeon Aulus Cornelius Celsus died, leaving De Medicina, which described the “dilated tortuous veins” surrounding a breast cancer, causing Galen to later give cancer (Latin for crab) its name. He advised against radical mastectomy involving the pectoral muscles, and warned that surgery should only be attempted in the benign stage (rst of four).
200 – About this year Galen died after pioneering the use of catgut for suturing while he believed pus to be benecial, and viewing cancer as a result of melancholia caused by an excess of black bile, proven by its frequent occurrence in postmenopausal females, recommending surgical excision of a cancerous breast through healthy tissue to make sure that not “a single root” is left behind, while discouraging ligatures and cautery to allow drainage of black bile.
200 – About this year Leonidas of Alexandria began advocating the excision of breast cancer via a wide cut through normal tissues like Galen, but recommended alternate incision and cautery, which became the standard for the next 15 centuries. He provided the rst detailed description of a mastectomy, which included the rst description of nipple retraction as a clinical sign of breast cancer.
208 – Hua Tuo began using wine and cannabis as an anaesthetic during surgery.
1180 – Rogerius published The Practice of Surgery.
1214 – Hugh of Lucca discovered that wine disinfects wounds.
1250 – Theodoric Borgognoni, student of Hugh of Lucca broke with Galen and fought pus with dry wound technique (wound cleansing and sutures).
1275 – William of Salicet broke with Galen’s love of pus and promoted a surgical knife over cauterization.
1452-1519 – Leonardo Da Vinci lives – he dissects some human bodies and makes accurate drawings of them.
1536 – Ambrose Pare treats wounds with a mixture of egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine rather than hot oil.
1728-1793 – John Hunter, the father of modern surgery, lives.
1735 – Claudius Amyand performed the rst successful appendectomy.
1780 – First mouth-to-mouth resuscitation performed by John Fothergill.
1794 – Oxygen discovered – AL Lavoisier.
1800 – The Royal College of Surgeons of England was founded.
1805 – Astley Cooper pioneered ligation of arteries.
1842 – Crawford Williamson Long pioneered ether for anesthesia.
1844 – Horace Wells pioneered nitrous oxide for anesthesia.
1846 – First Operation performed under Ether anesthesia.
1848 – James Young Simpson pioneered chloroform for anesthesia.
1865 – Joseph Lister discovers antiseptic surgery.
1880 – German surgeon Ludwig Rehn performed the rst thyroidectomy.
1882 – William Stewart Halsted of Johns Hopkins Hospital performed the rst complete radical mastectomy in the US, which became the standard
treatment.
1882 – First open Cholecystectomy by Carl Langenbuch.
1890 – Rubber gloves are rst used in surgery.
1895 – Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays.
1901 – German surgeon Georg Kelling performed the rst Laparoscopic surgery on dogs.
1901 – Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered the basic A-B-AB-O blood types.
1903 – Dutch physician Willem Einthoven invented the Electrocardiograph.
1903 – First Radiotherapy used for cancer treatment.
1905 – Austrian surgeon Hermann Schloffer became the rst to successfully remove a pituitary tumour.
1910 – Swiss physician Hans Christian Jacobaeus performed the rst Laparoscopic surgery on humans.
1914 – Blood transfusion was pioneered. The rst non-direct blood transfusion is carried out.
1916 – Austrian surgeon Hermann Schloffer performed the rst splenectomy operation.
1949 – First Chemotherapy approved for cancer treatment.
1953 – The rst carotid endarterectomy.
1955 – The rst open Nissen – anti reux operation was done.
1963 – The rst liver transplant was performed by Thomas Starzl et al.
1967 – The rst successful heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard.
1967 – The rst successful coronary artery bypass surgery.
1969 – First Colonoscopy and Polipectomy Dr’s W Wolf & H Shinya.
1971 – First modied radical mastectomy.
1972 – The CT scan was perfected.
1974 – First chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
1977 – First Breast conservation surgery for breast cancer.
1985 – The rst laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
