PMID: 11618878Mar 1, 1996Paper

Analysis of old surgical operation records of the Drs. Ishin Fuwa who graduated from Hanaoka School of Medicine

Nihon ishigaku zasshi. [Journal of Japanese history of medicine]
K Yamauchi, H Fuwa

Abstract

Ninety-five surgical records prepared by Dr. Ishin Rensai Fuwa from 1826 to 1859, and by his son, Dr. Ishin Kyousai Fuwa, from 1860 to 1871, were analyzed. These two surgeons lived in Fuwaishiki Village in the Mino area and performed many surgical operations under general anesthesia more than a century ago. The former was one of the trainees of Dr. Seishu Hanaoka who had performed the first operation under general anesthesia by Mafutsusan in 1804. Forty-eight patients were from the Mino area, and thirty-one from the Owari area; the others were from the Ise, Mikawa and Oomi areas. Seventy-three of 95 operations were for breast cancer, four for neck tumor, four for facial tumor, three for cleft palate and so on. The ages of breast cancer patients ranged from 15 to 68 years (mean 44 years), and 27% of 73 patients had an operation for breast cancer with removal of axillary nodes. Even at that time, informed consent for surgery seemed to have been obtained when a cancer was at the advanced stage and recurrence was suspected. These records clarify the medical situation, especially with regard to surgery, in one district of the Mino area at the end of the Edo era before Western medicine had been introduced to Japan.

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Birth Defects

Birth defects encompass structural and functional alterations that occur during embryonic or fetal development and are present since birth. The cause may be genetic, environmental or unknown and can result in physical and/or mental impairment. Here is the latest research on birth defects.