Dr. Halsted's Accomplishment

The Accomplishments of Dr. William Stewart Halsted


1880 Introduced a film-like gutta-percha tissue as a dressing for wounds and as a drainage material, now in universal use.
1884 Created intradermal and neuro-regional or block anaesthesia.
1884 Performed on the human subject the first centripetal transfusions into arteries and the first refusions of blood; these were depletory transfusions, the patient's blood having been withdrawn and mechanically freed of the poison of illuminating gas, was returned centripetally into an artery.
1885 Excised the inferior dental nerve after blocking it with an injection of a solution of cocaine
1885 Discovered that local anaesthesia might be produced by intradermal injections of very weak solutions of cocaine and even of water.
1886 Recommended and practiced the treatment of urethritis by flushings with mild antiseptic solutions (HGCl2), making the first counts of the microorganisms.
1887 Directed attention to the submucous coat of the intestine, and to the necessity of including this coat in operations upon the intestine. Performed on animals the first operations of reversal of the intestine, and the first isolation of intestinal loops.
1888 Made the discovery, simultaneously with Sir Victor Horsley, but independently, that after the removal of a portion of the thyroid gland in dogs there occurs a hyperplasia of the part remaining with characteristic histological changes, and that the thyroid gland of puppies of thyroidectomized parents become likewise hypertrophied.
1889 Described a radical operation for the cure of cancer of the breast, up to that time a rarely cured disease.
1890 Introduced the use of rubber gloves in performing surgical operations
1890 Devised an operation for the cure of inguinal hernia, an affection regarded until then as almost incurable.
1891 Performed the first successful ligation of the first portion of the left subclavian artery; also the first excision of a subclavian aneurysm.
1893 Performed three choledochotomies, the first in America.
1896 Performed the first excision of a cancer of the diverticulum of Vater, transplanting successfully the common bile duct into the duodenum.
1896 Introduced silver foil as a dressing for closed wounds, skin grafts, etc.
1903 Recommended the use of the cremaster muscle in the treatment of the oblique variety, and of the sheath of the rectus abdominis muscle in the treatment of direct variety of inguinal hernia, - modifications of the original procedure of 1890.
1905 Devised a method for the partial, progressive and complete occlusion of the aorta and other large arteries by the use of metal bands, also an instrument with which to curl and apply these bands.
1906 Demonstrated on dogs the possibility of transplantation of the parathyroid glands, and discovered the law that for the successful transplantation of these glands, a deficiency must be created.
1910 Contrived, with Dr. W. D. Gatch, the bulkhead method of performing an end to end anastomosis of the intestine.
1912 Made report of a dog maintained in good health by a parathyroid autograft one quarter of a millimeter in diameter. Three weeks after removal of the transplant the dog died of tetany.
1912 Cured an iliofemoral aneurysm by partial occlusion with a metal band of the common iliac artery.
1912 Reported a new operation for mammary cancer which eliminated the danger of swelling of the arm.
1915 Determined experimentally the cause of aneurysm of the subclavian artery observed in cases of cervical rib.
1915 Devised a new method of draining the common duct which eliminates the danger from loss of bile.
1920 Devised the blind-end anastomosis of the large intestine. The closed ends are abutted and the double diaphragm punctured by a guarded knife passed per rectum.
1921 Proved clinically and experimentally that the swelling of the arm following operations for cancer of the breast is due to infection.
1922 Demonstrated with Dr. F. L. Reichert and Dr. Mont R. Reid, that entire limbs may be successfully transplanted without suture of the blood-vessels.
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