RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Amnesia in modern surgery: revisiting Wangensteen’s landmark studies of small bowel obstruction
JF Canadian Journal of Surgery
JO CAN J SURG
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 83
OP 84
DO 10.1503/cjs.010814
VO 58
IS 2
A1 Faryniuk, Andrea
A1 MacDonald, Allan
A1 van Boxel, Paul
YR 2015
UL http://canjsurg.ca/content/58/2/83.abstract
AB Before the publications of Owen Wangensteen and his colleagues in the early 1930s, bowel obstruction was almost always fatal, and its treatment was ineffectual. Patients rarely survived surgical attempts to relieve the obstruction. Although other investigators were active in the field, the understanding of the pathophysiology of obstruction belongs almost entirely to Wangensteen. In this commentary, we review Wangensteen’s landmark studies of small bowel obstruction and how they shaped the treatment of this condition.