John Wickham's new surgery: 'minimally invasive therapy", innovation, and approaches to medical practice in twentieth-century Britain
File(s)
Published version
Accepted version
Author(s)
Kneebone, RL
Frampton, S
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The term ‘minimally invasive’ was coined in 1986 to describe a range of procedures that involved
making very small incisions or no incision at all for diseases traditionally treated by open surgery.
We examine this major shift in British medical practice as a means of probing the nature of surgical innovation
in the twentieth century. We first consider how concerns regarding surgical invasiveness had
long been present in surgery, before examining how changing notions of post-operative care formed a
foundation for change. We then go on to focus on a professional network involved in the promotion
of minimally invasive therapy led by the urologist John Wickham. The minimally invasive movement,
we contend, brought into focus tensions between surgical innovation and the evidence-based model
of medical practice. Premised upon professional collaborations beyond surgery and a re-positioning of
the patient role, we show how the movement elucidated changing notions of surgical authority.
making very small incisions or no incision at all for diseases traditionally treated by open surgery.
We examine this major shift in British medical practice as a means of probing the nature of surgical innovation
in the twentieth century. We first consider how concerns regarding surgical invasiveness had
long been present in surgery, before examining how changing notions of post-operative care formed a
foundation for change. We then go on to focus on a professional network involved in the promotion
of minimally invasive therapy led by the urologist John Wickham. The minimally invasive movement,
we contend, brought into focus tensions between surgical innovation and the evidence-based model
of medical practice. Premised upon professional collaborations beyond surgery and a re-positioning of
the patient role, we show how the movement elucidated changing notions of surgical authority.
Date Issued
2016-10-06
Date Acceptance
2016-06-16
Citation
Social History of Medicine, 2016
ISSN
1477-4666
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Journal / Book Title
Social History of Medicine
Copyright Statement
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Social History of Medicine.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
Grant Number
095998/Z/11/Z
099868/Z/12/Z
106945/Z/15/Z
Subjects
History of Science, Technology & Medicine
2202 History And Philosophy Of Specific Fields
Publication Status
Published