
Historical Foundations of Liver Surgery
For the surgeon of antiquity the liver has been an organ of mystery – and danger. Attempts to repair its wounds or remove tumors were fraught with hemorrhage and often a fatal outcome. Most forays were those to remove easily accessible tumors on the liver edge, but bleeding was a feared consequence still and surgeons wielded a plucky fortitude to take on even those. Not until the mid-20th Century ...
For the surgeon of antiquity the liver has been an organ of mystery – and danger. Attempts to repair its wounds or remove tumors were fraught with hemorrhage and often a fatal outcome. Most forays were those to remove easily accessible tumors on the liver edge, but bleeding was a feared consequence still and surgeons wielded a plucky fortitude to take on even those. Not until the mid-20th Century ...