Newsletters
March 2005 Newsletter: The mechanism of thyrotoxicosis
“Exopthalmic goitre” widely known as Graves’ Disease in the English-speaking world was actually first noted by Caleb Hiller Parry in 1786. It was not until 1825 however that his account of eight patients with “enlargement of the thyroid gland in connexion with palpitation of the heart” was published posthumously. In 1835 Robert Graves described three patients with “a newly observed affectation of the thyroid gland in females”, noting palpitations, thyroid enlargement and exophthalmos.
October 2004 Newsletter: The first parathyroidectomy
Countless articles and references describe the first recognised successful parathyroidectomy performed by Felix Mandl in 1925 on a Viennese streetcar conductor with osteitis fibrosa cystica. However that procedure may not have been the first successful removal of a parathyroid tumour associated with symptoms of hyperparathyroidism The following extract from Sir John Bland-Sutton’s 1917 textbook of pathology, “Tumours Innocent and Malignant” demonstrates that the first successful parathyroidectomy may well have unwittingly preceded any knowledge of the condition of hyperparathyroidism. “An enormous literature has grown up around the parathyroids. Some surgeons are of the opinion that the importance attached to these minute bodies is exaggerated.
October 2003 Newsletter: The first operation for insulinoma
The first described operation for insulinoma was in an orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Dickinson Ober Wheelock. Wheelock was first seen at the Mayo Clinic in 1922 with “stomach trouble” and diagnosed as chronic cholecystitis. He had previously undergone a laparotomy and gastroenterostomy in 1918 for attacks of epigastric pain and ”shock”. He returned to the Mayo Clinic in 1926 with recurrent symptoms.
August 2003 Newsletter: The tubercle of Zuckerkandl
The tubercle of Zuckerkandl is a distinct anatomical entity that was first described by Emil Zuckerkandl in 1902. The description, and the clinical significance of the tubercle, was lost to endocrine surgeons until the last decade when the tubercle was “rediscovered” by a number of authors.
April 2003 Newsletter: Early pituitary surgery
The first pituitary operation was performed by Victor Horsley, of London, in 1889. Horsley was a general surgeon who pioneered intracranial operations. By 1913 the results of his first four craniotomies were published: all had visual field defects and headaches. One died after six hours, and the other three had serious complications, however they survived between nine months and eight years. At this stage neurosurgeons began to devise extracranial approaches to the pituitary.
