Editing Surgery (section)

====Infection and antisepsis====
The introduction of anesthetics encouraged more surgery, which inadvertently caused more dangerous patient post-operative infections. The concept of infection was unknown until relatively modern times. The first progress in combating infection was made in 1847 by the [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] doctor [[Ignaz Semmelweis]] who noticed that medical students fresh from the dissecting room were causing excess maternal death compared to midwives. Semmelweis, despite ridicule and opposition, introduced compulsory handwashing for everyone entering the maternal wards and was rewarded with a plunge in maternal and fetal deaths; however, the [[Royal Society]] dismissed his advice.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
[[File:Joseph Lister2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]], pioneer of [[Antiseptic#Usage in surgery|antiseptic surgery]]]]
Until the pioneering work of British surgeon [[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]] in the 1860s, most medical men believed that chemical damage from exposures to bad air (see "[[Miasma theory of disease|miasma]]") was responsible for [[infections]] in wounds, and facilities for washing hands or a patient's [[wound]]s were not available.<ref name="storyof medicine">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKkCwqDEI9QC&q=%22good+old+surgical+stink%22&pg=PA420 | title=The Story of Medicine | publisher=Kessinger Publishing | vauthors=Robinson V | page=420 | isbn=978-1-4191-5431-7 | year=2005 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Lister became aware of the work of French [[chemist]] [[Louis Pasteur]], who showed that rotting and [[fermentation (food)|fermentation]] could occur under [[Anaerobic infection|anaerobic conditions]] if [[micro-organisms]] were present.  Pasteur suggested three methods to eliminate the [[micro-organisms]] responsible for [[gangrene]]: filtration, exposure to heat, or exposure to [[chemical solutions]]. Lister confirmed Pasteur's conclusions with his own experiments and decided to use his findings to develop [[antiseptic]] techniques for wounds.  As the first two methods suggested by Pasteur were inappropriate for the treatment of human tissue, Lister experimented with the third, spraying [[carbolic acid]] on his instruments. He found that this remarkably reduced the incidence of gangrene and he published his results in ''[[The Lancet]]''.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lister J | title = On a new method of treating compound fracture, abscess, etc.: with observations on the conditions of suppuration. | journal = The Lancet | date = March 1867 | volume = 89 | issue = 2272 | pages = 326–329 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)51192-2 }}<br>Five articles running from:<br>Volume 89, Issue 2272, 16 March 1867, pp. 326–29 (Originally published as Volume 1, Issue 2272)<br>
to:<br>Volume 90, Issue 2291, 27 July 1867, pp. 95–96 Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 2291</ref> Later, on 9 August 1867, he read a paper before the British Medical Association in Dublin, on the ''[[Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery]]'', which was reprinted in the ''British Medical Journal''.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lister J | title = On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery | journal = British Medical Journal | volume = 2 | issue = 351 | pages = 246–248 | date = September 1867 | pmid = 20744875 | pmc = 2310614 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.2.351.246 }}. Reprinted in {{cite journal | vauthors = Lister BJ | title = The classic: On the antiseptic principle in the practice of surgery. 1867 | journal = Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research | volume = 468 | issue = 8 | pages = 2012–2016 | date = August 2010 | pmid = 20361283 | pmc = 2895849 | doi = 10.1007/s11999-010-1320-x }}</ref><ref name=FUSourcebook>{{cite web| vauthors = Lister J |title=Modern History Sourcebook: Joseph Lister (1827–1912): Antiseptic Principle Of The Practice Of Surgery, 1867|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1867lister.asp|publisher=Fordham University|access-date=2 September 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107163352/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1867lister.asp|archive-date=7 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}Modernized version of text</ref><ref name=PG-JL>{{Cite book| vauthors = Lister J |title=On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery by Baron Joseph Lister|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23968|publisher=Project Gutenberg|access-date=2 September 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009065204/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23968|archive-date=9 October 2011|df=dmy-all|date=December 2007}} E-text, audio at Project Gutenberg.</ref> His work was groundbreaking and laid the foundations for a rapid advance in infection control that saw modern antiseptic operating theatres widely used within 50 years.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Lister continued to develop improved methods of [[antisepsis]] and [[asepsis]] when he realised that infection could be better avoided by preventing bacteria from getting into wounds in the first place. This led to the rise of sterile surgery. Lister introduced the Steam Steriliser to [[sterilization (microbiology)|sterilize]] equipment, instituted rigorous hand washing and later implemented the wearing of rubber gloves. These three crucial advances – the adoption of a scientific methodology toward surgical operations, the use of anaesthetic and the introduction of sterilised equipment – laid the groundwork for the modern invasive surgical techniques of today.

The use of [[X-rays]] as an important medical diagnostic tool began with their discovery in 1895 by German [[physicist]] [[Wilhelm Röntgen]]. He noticed that these rays could penetrate the skin, allowing the skeletal structure to be captured on a specially treated [[photographic plate]].

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Image:Acquapendente - Operationes chirurgicae, 1685 - 2984755.tif|[[Hieronymus Fabricius]], ''Operationes chirurgicae'', 1685
File:John Syng Dorsey.jpg|John Syng Dorsey wrote the first American textbook on surgery
File:1753 Traversi Operation anagoria.JPG| An operation in 1753, painted by [[Gaspare Traversi]].
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