The invention of surgery A history of modern medicine : from the Renaissance to the implant revolution

Orthopedist Schneider tracks the progress of modern surgery, highlighting various procedures and profiling game-changing anatomists, physician-scientists, and innovators. Dr. William Halsted, described as "the most significant surgeon in American history," was a brilliant man but suffered from an addiction to cocaine and heroin. The most riveting passages are Schneider's recollections of his medical training and memorable patients: a teenage boy with severe traumatic wounds who "started to smell like death" is miraculously resurrected by the presence of his pet dog; an elderly couple, both blind and deaf, communicates by sign language in one another's hands. Schneider primarily focuses on recent advances and the pervasive placement of foreign materials in the human body during what he dubs the "Implant Revolution." He blasts the lack of a U.S. registry to monitor joint replacements, which 11 other nations presently have, since, in 2014, an estimated 13-million implant surgeries were performed in the U.S. alone, including orthopedic and spine implants, breast augmentations, coronary artery stents, pacemakers, and lens implants after cataract removal. The likelihood of becoming bionic is on the rise!

Schneider, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in shoulder and elbow replacement, relates a history of surgery that is informative, entertaining, and highly readable. He begins with the invention of the printing press, which allowed early students of medicine to share information, and then continues to explain how the Renaissance stimulated interest in human anatomy and physiology. At the time, surgeons were held in disdain by nonsurgical physicians. One of the first to lead the way in overcoming such attitudes was Andreas Vesalius, who wrote the first anatomical text, in the process disputing much of the "common knowledge" in medicine in place since the Roman Empire. Following the Renaissance, rapid developments in science and the scientific method advanced surgical practice. Schneider covers innovations in pathology, germ theory, antibiotics, and anesthesia, and spends the last few chapters specifically discussing implant surgery, issues with FDA clearance of devices, and the future of implants as they become increasingly miniaturized. VERDICT Written for general readers, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the current state of health care and how we got here. It will be of particular interest to those who have experienced implantation surgery.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL