Notes Class 8 Chapter 4.2 Balbharati English Maharashtra Board

Revolutionary Steps in Surgery

1. History of Surgery

• Surgery dates back to 600 BC.
• ‘Sushruta Samhita’ is one of the oldest surgical texts in the world.
• Sushruta is considered the first surgeon to perform plastic surgery.
• Ancient surgeries included tooth extraction and bloodletting.
• Lack of knowledge and tools prevented the development of major surgeries for centuries.

2. Anaesthesia in Surgery

• Before anaesthesia, surgeries were extremely painful.
• General anaesthetics like ether and chloroform were developed in the mid-19th century.
• General anaesthesia numbs the entire body.
• Local anaesthesia is used for specific parts and is injected near nerves or surgical spots.
• Anaesthesia made painless surgeries possible and safer.

3. Cardiac Surgery (Heart Surgery)

• Unknown before 1893 due to lack of tools and knowledge.
• Heart patients were treated with sedatives and often did not survive.
• In 1893, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, an African-American surgeon, performed the first successful heart surgery.
• He treated James Cornish, who had a knife wound near his heart.
• The wound had cut an artery and punctured the pericardium (the sack around the heart).
• Dr. Williams operated with six doctors and saved the patient’s life.
• Now, open-heart surgery helps in:
  • Repairing heart defects.
  • Repairing or replacing heart valves.
  • Improving recovery with advanced techniques.

4. Neurosurgery (Brain and Nerve Surgery)

• Became a specialty in early 1900s.
• Deals with disorders of the nervous system, including:
  • Brain,
  • Spine,
  • Nerves.
• Treats people of all ages, including stroke patients.
• Dr. Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) is called the father of modern neurosurgery.
• Reduced neurosurgery mortality rate from 90% to less than 10%.
• Invented the ‘Cushing clip’ (a silver clip) to stop blood loss.
• Successfully removed over 2000 brain tumors before retiring in 1937.
• Neurosurgery is now one of the most advanced fields of medicine.

5. Robotic Surgery

• A type of minimally invasive surgery.
• Uses tiny instruments through small quarter-inch incisions.
• Performed with Da Vinci robot – the world’s most advanced surgical robot.
• Da Vinci robot has:
  • Three robotic arms for surgical tools.
  • One arm with a 3D high-definition camera.
• The surgeon controls the robot from a console in the operation room.
• The robot:
  • Copies every movement of the surgeon’s hands.
  • Offers better 3D view than the human eye.
  • Allows precision and control of movement scale.
• Benefits of robotic surgery:
  • Less blood loss,
  • Smaller cuts,
  • Faster recovery,
  • Reduced pain.