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Dr Robert Liston(the fastest knife in the West End in the 19th century). The man who performed the only operation in history with 300% mortality.
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A thread
Fourth most famous case
Removal in 4 minutes of a 45-pound scrotal tumour, whose owner had to carry it round in a wheelbarrow.
Removal in 4 minutes of a 45-pound scrotal tumour, whose owner had to carry it round in a wheelbarrow.
Third most famous case
Argument with his house-surgeon. Was the red, pulsating tumour in a small boy's neck a straightforward abscess of the skin, or a dangerous aneurism of the carotid artery? 'Pooh!' Liston exclaimed impatiently.
Argument with his house-surgeon. Was the red, pulsating tumour in a small boy's neck a straightforward abscess of the skin, or a dangerous aneurism of the carotid artery? 'Pooh!' Liston exclaimed impatiently.
Whoever heard of an aneurism in one so young?' Flashing a knife from his waistcoat pocket, he lanced it. Houseman's note – 'Out leaped arterial blood, and the boy fell.' The patient died but the artery lives, in University College Hospital pathology museum, specimen No. 1256
Second most famous case
Amputated the leg in 21⁄2 minutes, but in his enthusiasm the patient's testicles as well.
Amputated the leg in 21⁄2 minutes, but in his enthusiasm the patient's testicles as well.
His most famous case was the operation with 300%mortality. The patient died, the assistant died, a spectator died.
