Sir Vincent Zachary Cope MD MS FRCS | |
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| Born | 14 February 1881 Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 28 December 1974 (aged 93) Oxford, Oxfordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Westminster City School |
| Alma mater | University of London |
| Occupation(s) | Surgeon, medical historian |
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| Spouse(s) | Agnes Dora Newth (1909–1922, her death) Alice May Watts (1923–1944, her death) |
| Children | One daughter |
| Parent(s) | Thomas John Gilbert Cope Celia Ann Cope née Truscott |
Sir Vincent Zachary Cope MD MS FRCS (14 February 1881 – 28 December 1974) was an English physician, surgeon, author, historian and poet perhaps best known for authoring the book Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen from 1921 until 1971. [1] [2] The work remains a respected and standard text of general surgery, and new editions continue being published by editors long after his death, [2] [3] the most recent one being the 22nd edition, published in 2010. [4] Cope also wrote widely on the history of medicine and of public dispensaries. [5] [6] [7]
Cope was the youngest of ten children of a minister, Thomas John Cope and his wife Celia Anne Crowle. He was head boy at Westminster City School where he was awarded a gold medal in 1899 and then a scholarship to go to St Mary's Hospital Medical School. He passed surgery and forensic medicine with distinction in 1905 and became house physician to David Lees, author of The Abdominal Inflammations. Lees influenced Cope in his lifelong interest, the acute abdomen. [1] [2]
In 1906, Cope began work at Bolingbroke Hospital before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914. In 1916 he went to Baghdad, Mesopotamia. It was here that he wrote his first book Surgical aspects of dysentery published in 1921. Cope was considered an "eminent authority" on acute abdominal disorders. Influenced by Augustus D Waller and Almroth Wright, he published many books including Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen also in 1921. [1]
Cope is quoted to have said that "the good surgeon must feel for his patients, but never let this sympathy disturb his judgement or treatment". [1]
Cope is recorded to have been a small man who stood on a stool, named 'Cope's stool' when operating. [2]
Involved in surveying hospital facilities, medical staffing levels and auxiliary training, Cope was active in chairing committees for the Ministry of Health and in editing their reports between 1949 and 1952. He received a knighthood for the work he completed on medicine and surgery in the official medical history of the Second World War. [1]
Between the ages of 75 years and 85 years, Cope wrote seven biographies including William Cheselden, Florence Nightingale, Almroth Wright and Sir John Tomes. [1]
Described as "modest and friendly", Cope was also "devoted to his family and loved by his friends". He outlived two wives, the first, Dora Newth, dying very young. He married Alice Mary Watts in 1923 and had a daughter. [1] [2]
Cope lived near Hampstead Heath until the death of Alice in 1944 after which he moved to Chiltern Court, Baker Street. He is remembered to spend much time in the library of the RSM after retirement. [2] Between 1950 and 1952, he was president of the Osler Club of London. [9]
St Mary's Hospital, London has a ward named after Cope. [10]
The Royal college of surgeons pays tribute to Cope with the Zachary Cope Memorial Lecture in abdominal surgical disease. [2]
Laparoscopy is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.
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 or 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.
Cholecystitis is inflammation of the gallbladder. Symptoms include right upper abdominal pain, pain in the right shoulder, nausea, vomiting, and occasionally fever. Often gallbladder attacks precede acute cholecystitis. The pain lasts longer in cholecystitis than in a typical gallbladder attack. Without appropriate treatment, recurrent episodes of cholecystitis are common. Complications of acute cholecystitis include gallstone pancreatitis, common bile duct stones, or inflammation of the common bile duct.
Abdominal pain, also known as a stomach ache, is a symptom associated with both non-serious and serious medical issues. Since the abdomen contains most of the body's vital organs, it can be an indicator of a wide variety of diseases. Given that, approaching the examination of a person and planning of a differential diagnosis is extremely important.
St Mary's Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which also operates Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital and the Western Eye Hospital.
Sir Almroth Edward Wright was a British bacteriologist and immunologist.
The psoas sign, also known as Cope's sign or Obraztsova's sign, is a medical sign that indicates irritation to the iliopsoas group of hip flexors in the abdomen, and consequently indicates that the inflamed appendix is retrocaecal in orientation.
James Hogarth Pringle was an Australian-born British surgeon in Glasgow, who made a number of important contributions to surgical practice. He is most famous for the development of the Pringle manoeuvre, a technique still used in surgery today.
A Spigelian is the type of ventral hernia where aponeurotic fascia pushes through a hole in the junction of the linea semilunaris and the arcuate line, creating a bulge. It appears in the lower quadrant of the abdomen between an area of dense fibrous tissue and abdominal wall muscles causing a.
An acute abdomen refers to a sudden, severe abdominal pain. It is in many cases a medical emergency, requiring urgent and specific diagnosis. Several causes need immediate surgical treatment.
An exploratory laparotomy is a general surgical operation where the abdomen is opened and the abdominal organs are examined for injury or disease. It is the standard of care in various blunt and penetrating trauma situations in which there may be life-threatening internal injuries. It is also used in certain diagnostic situations, in which the operation is undertaken in search of a unifying cause for multiple signs and symptoms of disease, and in the staging of some cancers.
The Bradshaw Lectures are lectureships given at the invitation of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It is held on alternate years in rotation with the Hunterian Oration.
Sir Hugh Lett, 1st Baronet, was a British surgeon with a special interest in urology and headed the London Hospital's genito-urinary department for many years.
Thomas Pomfret Kilner was an early plastic surgeon. One of the four who continued to practice in Britain between the world wars after training at the Queen's Hospital, Sidcup with Harold Gillies. Kilner continued to practice until 1957 The others were Harold Gillies, Arthur Rainsford Mowlem, and Archibald McIndoe. He took a special interest in repairing cleft lips and palate and was appointed in 1944 as Nuffield Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of Oxford. He occupied this chair until 1957 when he retired.

Sir Marriott Fawckner Nicholls CBE, FRCS, was an English surgeon who specialised in the genitourinary tract. He served in the British Army in both the First and Second World Wars and was dean of the medical school at St George's Hospital for 20 years. At the age of 64 he became professor of surgery at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, where he maintained the position until his death five years later.

Charles Granville Rob was a British surgeon who pioneered techniques in the repair of damaged blood vessels, particularly the operation to unblock arteries of the neck, known as carotid endarterectomy and of the aorta when treating aortic aneurysms.
Vincent Warren Low was a British surgeon.
Herbert Alexander Haxton FRCS FRSE was a Scottish surgeon to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and the Manchester North Hospital and Crumpsall Hospital. He contributed to surgical techniques of suturing and investigated the function of the sympathetic nervous system in the sweating conditions hyperhidrosis and gustatory hyperhidrosis.
Leela Kapila is a British Indian surgeon and former consultant paediatric surgeon at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. She was awarded the OBE for services to surgery in 1996.