Needles in medical history : an exhibition at the Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Gallery, April 1998 / Ken Arnold [and others].

Date:
[1998?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Needles in medical history : an exhibition at the Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Gallery, April 1998 / Ken Arnold [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    6.9 Indermil Sterile Operating Theatre Kit and photograph of wound closure with Indermil. 1990s For most of the history of medicine, the union and closure of human tissue has primarily been achieved using needle and thread or with other mechanical bindings, all using materials based primarily on natural products such as cotton, wood fibre, linen and animal sinews. More recently, Nylon and Dacron have gained in importance. For the last quarter of a century, surgeons have been interested in using adhesive bonds instead. A variety of advantages are advertised for this new method of wound closure (Indermil tissue adhesive) including greater speed, simplicity, precision and efficiency of use. The results are also potentially more aesthetically pleasing: less likely to result in the so-called 'zipper effect' - the form of scar left by conventional suturing. supplied by Professor Alan Roberts 6.10 'It's much easier to cut out meat'. Poster produced by the Vegetarian Society. 1997 The poster draws on people's fear of the knives and needles of surgery by picturing three suture scars from colon, prostate and breast cancer operations. Along with contact details for the Vegetarian Society, the poster's text quotes official statistics for cancer as the cause of one in four UK deaths and further recent research suggesting that eating meat can increase the risk of cancer. However, the advertising campaign featuring the poster was heavily criticized by cancer charities, and, less surprisingly, the meat industry, and a signif- icant number of individuals who complained to the Advertising Standards Authority. The campaign has since been withdrawn. supplied by the Vegetarian Society 6.11 Suturing in process in the Surgery Department at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee. Reproduction of photographs by Norman Matheson. 1997. [Illustrated] The operation is an anastomosis after a sigmoid colectomy - that is the joining together of two ends of the large bowel after the removal of a tumour-bearing segment. The twentieth century has seen the evolution of an ever-growing series of needles for different purposes and different techniques, so that today several thousand needle types are manufactured for wound suturing. For regular surgery alone there are around 30 sizes, each of which can be fitted with ordinary, spring, Paterson, round, square or enlarged eyes, with virtually all being available in either carbon or stainless steel. supplied by RJ G SteeleTNinewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee Ken Arnold and Denna Jones i AM\fLt