An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

CALLENDER, George William

1 entries
  • 11565

Removal of a needle from the heart. Recovery of the patient.

Med. chir. Trans., 88, 203-212, 1873.

"The first occasion on which a surgeon deliberately operated on an injured heart was in October 1872. This followed a brawl in a public house in East London, after which a 31-year-old man could not find a needle he usually kept in the left side of his coat. The next day he attended St. Bartholomew's Hospital, but the need was not found. Nine days later, pain and discomfort persisted, and on return to St. Bartholomew's he was admitted. The surgeon, George Callender, explored the area of discomfort and made an incision between the ribs. He eventually located the needle, which was embedded in the myocardium close to the apex. The needle was removed and the patient made an uneventful recovery" (Westaby and Bosher, Landmarks in cardiac surgery, 14).



Subjects: CARDIOVASCULAR (Cardiac) SURGERY