Health 4.2 The Impact of War and Technology on Surgery

Question 1

How did X-rays develop and become useful? (HE 4.2)

Answer 1

• Discovered 1895, used before WW1.
• Mobile X-rays were made by Marie Curie.
• Allowed surgeons to find out exactly where bones had broke or bullets had lodged.

Question 2

How did plastic surgery develop and become useful? (HE 4.2)

Answer 2

• WW1: Harold Gilles set up a skin graft unit for facial wounds.
• Queen’s Hospital; Kent, opened 1917. 1000 beds for the facially wounded.
• WW2: Archibald McIndoe used penicillin to prevent infection during grafting.

Question 3

How did blood transfusions develop and become useful? (HE 4.2)

Answer 3

• 1900: Karl Landsteiner discovers blood groups.
• 1914: Albert Hustin discovered how to store blood long with sodium citrate.
• 1938: British National Blood Transfusion Service (BNBTS) opens.
• Blood banks develop in US/UK.

Question 4

What other treatments came from the wars? (HE 4.2)

Answer 4

• Army leg splints for bones.
• Heart surgery developments (Dwight Harken removing shrapnel by hand).
• Better diets from grown food/shortages.
• Hygiene was better addressed.
• Far more antibiotics produced.

Question 5

What negative affects did war have on medical progress? (HE 4.2)

Answer 5

• Thousands of doctors and scientists taken away from their normal work.
• Medical progress was put aside for wartime efforts.
• Places of learning and research destroyed.

Question 6

How did transplant surgery develop after the wars? (HE 4.2)

Answer 6

• 1952: First whole organ transplant (of a kidney). (1960 for UK).
• 1967: Christian Barnard performs the first heart transplant in S Africa.
• 1996: Davina Thompson has a heart, lung and liver transplant successfully.
• 2006: First partial face transplant.
• 2008: First full face transplant.

Question 7

What new surgical methods came about after the wars? (HE 4.2)

Answer 7

• Keyhole surgery: utilising cameras and small cuts/tools.
• Radiotherapy: used to shrink tumours and kill cancer.
• Laser Surgery: used for treating skin conditions, clearing blocked arteries, removing ulcers and helping with tumours and bleeding.