Charles Heber McBurney, MD (17 February 1845 in Roxbury, Massachusetts – 7 November 1913 in Brookline, Massachusetts) was an American surgeon, well known for describing McBurney's point in appendicitis.
Charles McBurney was born in 1845. He graduated in the arts from Harvard College in 1866, and qualified in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York City with an M.D. in 1870. He trained further in Europe for 2 years, and started practice in New York in 1873. He became assistant surgeon to the Bellevue Hospital in 1880, and surgeon-in-chief of the Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West) in 1888. Here he did his most famous work on appendicitis, presenting his report on operative management to the New York Surgical Society in 1889. [1] He described the point of greatest tenderness in appendicitis, which is now known as McBurney's point. He was professor of surgery from 1889 to 1907, and thereafter became emeritus professor of surgery. He continued to advance the treatment of appendicitis, [2] and in 1894 he described the incision that he used; [3] although the incision had previously been described by Louis L. MacArthur, it became known as McBurney's incision. [4] He was awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1905 during the college's 400th anniversary celebrations. The honorary fellowship was awarded to the 36 most well known surgeons of the time.
In addition to his work on appendicitis, McBurney also published papers on the treatment of pyloric stenosis, [5] management of shoulder dislocation with fracture of the humerus, [6] and gallstone disease. [7] He also introduced the use of rubber gloves during his operations to improve aseptic technique, following the lead of William Halsted. [8]
After the U.S. President William McKinley was shot on September 6, 1901, Dr. McBurney led the medical team that oversaw his recovery after emergency surgery [9] and announced to the press on September 10 that the President's condition was improving and that he was out of danger. [10]
He was a keen hunter and fisherman, and died in 1913 on a hunting trip in Massachusetts. [11]
His grandson was American archaeologist Charles McBurney and his great-grandson is English actor, writer and director Simon McBurney.
Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a ruptured appendix include widespread, painful inflammation of the inner lining of the abdominal wall and sepsis.
An appendectomy, also termed appendicectomy, is a surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedure to treat complicated acute appendicitis.
A laparotomy is a surgical procedure involving a surgical incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity. It is also known as a celiotomy.
McBurney's point is the name given to the point over the right side of the abdomen that is one-third of the distance from the anterior superior iliac spine to the umbilicus (navel). This is near the most common location of the appendix.
Pyloric stenosis is a narrowing of the opening from the stomach to the first part of the small intestine. Symptoms include projectile vomiting without the presence of bile. This most often occurs after the baby is fed. The typical age that symptoms become obvious is two to twelve weeks old.
An abdomino perineal resection, formally known as abdominoperineal resection of the rectum and abdominoperineal excision of the rectum is a surgery for rectal cancer or anal cancer. It is frequently abbreviated as AP resection, APR and APER.
Henry Clay Dalton was superintendent of the St. Louis City Hospital, Missouri, United States, from 1886 to 1892, and later a professor of abdominal and clinical surgery at Marion Sims College of Medicine. He is noted for being the first American to perform the suturing of the pericardium on record. Spanish surgeon Francisco Romero was documented with performing two successful surgeries in 1801 and French surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey was documented as successfully performing surgery on a woman's pericardium in 1810.
Hernia repair refers to a surgical operation for the correction of a hernia—a bulging of internal organs or tissues through the wall that contains it. It can be of two different types: herniorrhaphy; or hernioplasty. This operation may be performed to correct hernias of the abdomen, groin, diaphragm, brain, or at the site of a previous operation. Hernia repair is often performed as an ambulatory procedure.
George Howard Monks (1853–1933) was an American surgeon who also invented board games.
A vagotomy is a surgical procedure that involves removing part of the vagus nerve.
Josef E. Fischer, M.D. was an American surgeon, scientist, and professor at Harvard Medical School.
Laryngotracheal stenosis refers to abnormal narrowing of the central air passageways. This can occur at the level of the larynx, trachea, carina or main bronchi. In a small number of patients narrowing may be present in more than one anatomical location.
Pyloromyotomy is a surgical procedure in which a portion of the muscle fibers of the pyloric muscle are cut. This is typically done in cases where the contents from the stomach are inappropriately stopped by the pyloric muscle, causing the stomach contents to build up in the stomach and unable to be appropriately digested. The procedure is typically performed in cases of "hypertrophic pyloric stenosis" in young children. In most cases, the procedure can be performed with either an open approach or a laparoscopic approach and the patients typically have good outcomes with minimal complications.
Leo Eloesser, a noted thoracic surgeon and volunteer of the Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, was born in San Francisco. He spent his undergraduate years at Berkeley and in 1901 went to Germany to study medicine. He became a pioneer in the field of thoracic surgery and joined the faculty of the Stanford Medical School in 1912. A surgical procedure known as the Eloesser flap is named for him.
Edward Delos Churchill was an American surgeon known for his work in thoracic surgery and remembered for describing the Churchill-Cope reflex.
Various individuals have advanced the surgical art and, as a result, have been called the father of surgery by various sources.
Wilhelm Conrad Ramstedt was a German surgeon remembered for describing Ramstedt's operation.
Otto Lanz was a Swiss surgeon.
Keith Reemtsma was an American transplant surgeon, best known for the cross-species kidney transplantation operation from chimpanzee to human in 1964. With only the early immunosuppressants and no long-term dialysis, the female recipient survived nine months, long enough to return to work.
Fabrizio Michelassi, M.D., F.A.C.S. is the Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and Surgeon-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.