title: H. Milton: visionary surgeon.
abstract: Current wisdom holds that median sternotomy is the creation of cardiac surgeons as the premier approach to the heart. In fact, this innovative and resourceful procedure was perfected by an obscure English surgeon in Cairo, Egypt (U.A.R.), in 1897. H. Milton designed a vertical sternal-splitting approach for the excision of tuberculous mediastinal nodes and employed it successfully in a patient. Modern medicine owes a great debt to H. Milton for this significant, albeit unrecognized, contribution. The details of the life of this unsung surgeon, such as are known, are presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Mercer University School of Medicine, Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon 31208.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dalton
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Connally
mesh_terms: D004534:Egypt; D004739:England; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D013249:Sternum / Q000601:surgery