Werner Theodor Otto Forssmann, a German surgical trainee in 1929, is famous for an experiment he performed on himself.
In 1929 Forssmann introduced the procedure of cardiac catheterization into medicine. He was struck by the danger inherent in the direct injection of drugs into the heart frequently demanded in an emergency.
The alternative that he proposed sounded no less alarming – introducing a catheter through the venous system from a vein in the elbow directly into the right atrium of the heart. Drugs could then be introduced through this.
After practice on cadavers and an unsuccessful attempt on himself made with the aid of a nervous colleague, Forssmann decided to do the whole thing himself.
He consequently introduced a 65-centimeter (25.6-in) catheter for its entire length, walked up several flights of stairs to the x-ray department and calmly confirmed that the tip of the catheter had in fact reached his heart. There had been no pain or discomfort.
He was fired after this stunt, but was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize for Medicine for developing a procedure that allowed for cardiac catheterization.
Bio:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1956/forssmann-bio.html
#historyofmedicine #forssmann #cardiaccatheterization
Pierluca Masala Indeed! The Grand Order of the Stainless Steel Balls of Awesomeness™ is in order here.
ReplyDeleteThat must have of took an awful lot of bravery!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Isaac Newton sticking a darning needle between his eyelid and eye, and digging around the backside of his eyeball to study optics..
Or Doctor John Hunter who took a knife to his penis and deliberately infected himself with syphilis with pus from a sailor, to scientifically determine if syphilis and gonorrhea was the same disease, a potentially fatal disease of which there was no cure at the time or effective treatment at the time.