Key developments in surgery

Key steps in the development of the surgery through the 20th century include:

1890s: Victor Horsley (British): first specialist neuro-surgeon.

1940s: Archibald McIndoe (British) learned how to rebuild surgically the faces of airmen (the 'Guinea Pigs') burned in the war - this was very early plastic surgery. In 2002, nearly 7 million cosmetic surgical procedures were performed in the US alone.

1950: William Bigelow (Canadian) performed the first open-heart surgery to repair a 'hole' in a baby's heart, using hypothermia.

1952: First kidney transplant (America).

1962: Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital re-attached the arm of a 12-year-old boy.

Christian Barnaard, South African heart surgeon

1967: Christiaan Barnard (South Africa) performed the first heart transplant - the patient lived for 18 days. (In 2002, there were 2,154 heart transplant operations performed in the US - 87 per cent of the patients lived for at least a year.)

1970s: The development of plastic lenses allowed cataract surgery. Since 1991 laser eye surgery has obviated the need for glasses.

1970: Roy Calne (Britain) developed the use of the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine, which prevents the body 'rejecting' grafts and transplanted organs.

1972: John Charnley (Britain) developed hip replacements.

1986: Davina Thompson (Britain) became the first heart, lungs and liver transplant patient.

1990s: Increasing use of keyhole surgery, using endoscopes and ultrasound scanning, allowed minimally invasive surgery.

2002: Specialists at Massachusetts General Hospital, watching digital x-rays transmitted by satellite, helped the medical officer at a research station from the South Pole operate on a damaged knee.

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