The case of General Wood.
The first successful operation ever on a parasagittal meningioma was performed in 1910 by Harvey Cushing. The operation turned out to be critical event in his career as a neurosurgeon and made him confident about the possibilities of brain surgery. The patient was Leonard Wood, Major General and Chief of Staff of the United States Army, who was a military surgeon turned career officer. In the election campaign or the president to succeed Woodrow Wilson in 1920, Leonard Wood, the personification of competence, became the Republican favorite. General Wood was, however, eliminated from the presidential election campaign by complicated intrigues. From the next year on, General Wood experienced increasing warning signs of a recurrent tumor, which he unfortunately neglected. Not until 1927 did Wood again come under the care of Dr. Cushing, who had just returned from Britain, where in the course of a single month he had been awarded no less than seven distinctions from different medical societies. Deeply concerned at Wood's condition. Cushing decided to attempt extirpation of the recurrent tumor. General Wood died a few hours after the operation. No tragedy caused Cushing more distress than the death of General Wood, who 7 years earlier had been on the verge of being President of the United States.
D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008579:Meningioma / Q000601:surgery; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000266:history; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history; D014481:United States