Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1714

HENRY INGERSOLL BOWDITCH (1808-1892) On pleuritic effusions, and the necessity of paracentesis for their removal. (In American journal of the medical sciences. Vol. 23 (1852), pp. 320-350.) 22.6 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1713

Bowditch was convinced that pleural effusion was a condition that could be treated successfully by thoracocentesis, although it was largely opposed as being too dangerous by his medical colleagues. He persisted in his views and adopted a device developed by Morrill Wyman (1812-1903), a physician of Cambridge, Massachusetts and member of the Harvard medical faculty, which simplified the procedure and made it safer. As a result of Bowditch's efforts, the procedure became more widely adopted in American medical practice. Bowditch first read the present paper before the Boston Society for Medical Observation in October 1851 and it was published the following April. In it he noted that paracentesis thoracis was an old procedure and had usually been used only in the most acute cases. Even though the procedure had been improved and was now advocated by a number of prominent European physicians, it had still not come into wide use. Postmortem results had shown Bowditch that several lives could have been saved if only thoracocentesis had been employed. The main body of his paper consists of eight detailed case reports of his experience with the procedure in different types of respiratory conditions.