Key discoveries in the evolution of surgical techniques.
The BJN reported on a paper given by the superintendent of the General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario. It seems that there were three key discoveries in the history of surgery, which of course are still relevant today. The first was Ambrose Pare, who was responsible for introducing the ligature and replacing the 'red hot knife and cautery'. Ligature is the term given to the length of thread or other material, which was used in the surgical process of tying off a duct or a blood vessel to stop bleeding. Cautery or cauterization was the application of a heated instrument, such as a knife, in those days to destroy tissues to stop bleeding and promote healing. Cauterization has been largely replaced by electrocoagulation, which is the use of a high-frequency electric current to seal blood vessels by heat and thus stop bleeding.
D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative