Technological Change in Modern Surgery: Historical Perspectives on Innovation (Rochester Studies in Medical History, 39)

Examining the complex dynamics of medical treatment options and the variable character of surgical technologies, this volume broadens and transcends the notion of technological innovation. Surgery is an ideal field for examining the processes of technological change in medicine. The contributors to this book go beyond the concept of innovation, with its focus on a single technology and its sharp dichotomy of acceptance versus rejection. Instead they explore the historical contexts of change in surgery, looking at the complex dynamics of the various treatment options available -- old and new, surgical and nonsurgical -- as well as the variable character of the new technologies themselves, thus broadening and transcending the notion of technological innovation. CONTRIBUTORS: Christopher Crenner, Sally Frampton, Delia Gavrus, Lisa Haushofer, David S. Jones, Beth Linker, Shelley McKellar, Thomas Schlich Thomas Schlich is the James McGill Professor of the History of Medicine at the Department of Social Studies of Medicine at McGill University. Christopher Crenner is the RalphMajor and Robert Hudson Professor and chair of the Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Surgery is an ideal field for examining the processes of technological change in medicine. The contributors to this book go beyond the concept of innovation, with its focus on a single technology and its sharp dichotomy of acceptance versus rejection. Instead they explore the historical contexts of change in surgery, looking at the complex dynamics of the various treatment options available -- old and new, surgical and nonsurgical -- as well as the variable character of the new technologies themselves, thus broadening and transcending the notion of technological innovation.

CONTRIBUTORS: Christopher Crenner, Sally Frampton, Delia Gavrus, Lisa Haushofer, David S. Jones, Beth Linker, Shelley McKellar, Thomas Schlich

Thomas Schlich is the James McGill Professor of the History of Medicine at the Department of Social Studies of Medicine at McGill University. Christopher Crenner is the RalphMajor and Robert Hudson Professor and chair of the Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Technological change in surgery: an introductory essay / Thomas Schlich and Christopher Crenner -- Inimitable innovation : Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach and the renewal of surgery, 1822-1847 / Lisa Haushofer -- Defining difference : competing forms of ovarian surgery in the nineteenth century / Sally Frampton -- Making bad boys good? : brain surgery and the juvenile court in progressive era America / Delia Gavrus -- Prosthetic imaginaries : spinal surgery and innovation from the patient's perspective / Beth Linker -- Disruptive potential : the 'landmark' rematch trial, left ventricular assist device (LVAD) technology, and the surgical treatment of heart failure in the United States / Shelley McKellar -- Placebos and the progress of surgery / Christopher Crenner -- Surgical practice and the reconstruction of the therapeutic niche : the case of myocardial revascularization / David S. Jones Frontcover Contents 1 Technological Change in Surgery: An Introductory Essay 2 Inimitable Innovation: Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach and the Renewal of Surgery, 1822–1847 3 Defining Difference: Competing Forms of Ovarian Surgery in the Nineteenth Century 4 “Making Bad Boys Good”: Brain Surgery and the Juvenile Court in Progressive Era America 5 Prosthetic Imaginaries: Spinal Surgery and Innovation from the Patient’s Perspective 6 Disruptive Potential: The “Landmark” REMATCH Trial, Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) Technology, and the Surgical Treatment of Heart Failure in the United States 7 Placebos and the Progress of Surgery 8 Surgical Practice and the Reconstruction of the Therapeutic Niche: The Case of Myocardial Revascularization Bibliography of Secondary Sources List of Contributors Index

Ovariotomy provides a useful way of unpacking not just the process of surgical innovation but also the usefulness of innovation as an analytical category in the history of medicine. How might we pin down the meaning of "innovation"—let alone "alternative innovation"—in surgery when these innovations themselves are unstable, changing entities that are difficult to define? Through the example of ovariotomy I show that alternative innovation need not necessarily imply competition between diverse innovations, but that such a framework might also be used to consider how different versions of the "same" operation arise.