Who invented surgical asepsis

He also extended his research to clinical trials in the hospital, establishing a reputation as an exceptional surgeon. The French scientist Louis Pasteur speculated that the spread of microorganisms called germs in the body could explain infectious disease. This was known as the Germ Theory of Disease. Although he never tested the theory, Pasteur suggested that a disease might be controlled by exposing the wound to germ-killing chemicals.

He looked for ways to prevent germs from entering a wound by creating a chemical barrier—which he called an antiseptic—between the surgical wound and the surroundings. The chemical he chose to use was carbolic acid, which killed the germs on contact.

Lister began to develop his antiseptic techniques through experimentation and clinical trials, regularly publishing his findings. Reception to his theory was mixed. Because they didn't accept that germs caused infections, many surgeons found the antiseptic system excessive and unnecessarily complicated. Some thought that Lister was claiming carbolic acid as a cure for infections, not as one way to prevent them! Lister applied the principle of an antiseptic barrier to a set of procedures for the operating room that are illustrated in the gallery below.

The procedures, along with the instruments that he invented, were designed to prevent germs from coming into contact with the open wound. He introduced weak carbolic hand washes for surgical staff and carbolic acid baths for the instruments. He used solutions of carbolic acid spray to reduce the level of germs in the air around the patient. The antiseptic system in practice in an operating room. This set of steel amputation instruments was made after antiseptic surgical techniques were in common use.

Before that, instruments were often made of materials such as ivory and wood that were difficult to clean. Towels soaked in carbolic solution were lain on the patient and a sponge soaking in carbolic solution was used to wipe hands and instruments during operations. The carbolic hand spray was a later development by Lister. Working in the carbolic spray was unpleasant and toxic. It enveloped staff and patient in a yellow mist with a sickeningly sweet, tar-like smell.

This example is from c. The donkey engine was used by Lister around A carbolic spray was pumped into the air by an assistant using the long handle. Latest book. Work in the Age of Data. Science Research. Health Leading Figures Medicine. Ventana al Conocimiento Knowledge Window.

Estimated reading time Time 3 to read. Lister has gone down in history as the father of antiseptic surgery. Credit: Wellcome Images Entering an operating room in was a life-or-death gamble. Following Pasteur Thus, it was not uncommon for even the surgeons themselves to resist operating as long as it was not absolutely essential. The image shows the use of the carbolic acid sprayer designed by Lister.

Credit: Wellcome Images In , while practicing as a professor of surgery at the University of Glasgow, Lister discovered the work of a French chemist named Louis Pasteur. A protocol to sterilize From then on, Lister laid out a protocol to sterilize the surgical instruments, the hands of the surgeon, the dressings and the wounds with solutions of carbolic acid, and even designed a sprayer to diffuse the substance in the air of the operating room, which was definitely not pleasant.

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Comments on this publication Login to comment Log in Subscribe. Thank you for collaborating with the OpenMind community! Your comment will be published after validation. Please, try again later. James M. Edmonson ; reprint ed. Click to enlarge. The Knick shows first the techniques not of aseptic surgery, but of antiseptic surgery—that is, surgery under conditions designed to combat germs.

Spraying the operating room with carbolic acid, and dipping beards in the same chemical, were two such techniques. Aseptic surgery went farther, creating surgical conditions without germs. Thus aseptic surgery led to sterilizing instruments; swabbing down patients; robing, masking, and gloving surgeons; and dressing wounds with sterile dressings.

Such procedures began in the s, and by the early s were becoming more and more standard. Our colleague Jim Edmonson of the Dittrick Museum of Medical History in Cleveland, Ohio, has explored the effect of aseptic surgery on medical instruments and instrument making. Aseptic surgery led to the sale and use of instrument sterilizers, of sterile gauze and cotton, and most especially of instruments designed to be readily and effectively sterilized, as well as inexpensively made.

Thus metal soon replaced the wooden and ivory handles of surgical instruments. Jim quotes a Chicago surgeon, Nicholas Senn, in All attempts at ornamentation have been abandoned. The modern surgical instruments are made as plain and smooth as possible.

Knives and retractors are made of one piece of steel, all niches and crevices being avoided wherever possible. Scissors and forceps are made so that the two parts may be readily separated and joined again.