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Incidence and Prevention of Infection after Neurosurgical Operations

  • Chapter
Infectious Diseases of the Central Nervous System

Part of the book series: Neurologic Illness ((Ni))

Abstract

At about the time of the Boston Tea Party, King George III of England was troubled by a sebaceous cyst of the scalp. He summoned the renowned surgeon Sir Astley Cooper to attend to him and remove the wen. Sir Astley did so successfully, but with reluctance. “Wounds of the scalp,” he is quoted to have said, “are not so trifling as they first might appear. Inflammation very often follows, erisipelas etc, and many die in consequence of the injury done to the scalp ... I was called upon to remove a tumor from the scalp of a lady; it was unfortunately attached to the tendon of the occipito-frontalis muscle and I necessarily had to remove a part of this tendon. The operation was done on a Wednesday, she seemed quite well after its removal, but on Sunday she was seized with rigor, succeeded by heat—she became feverish and on the Tuesday she died. Therefore, you will, I trust, be upon your guard and never make an unnecessary cut on any part of the scalp for such a practice is dangerous and you will not know what may follow such a wound.”1

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Authors
  1. T. Forcht Dagi
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  2. Robert G. Ojemann
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  3. Nicholas T. Zervas
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    Richard A. Thompson M.D.

  2. Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    John R. Green M.D., F.A.C.S. (Chairman of Neurosurgery, and Chairman) (Chairman of Neurosurgery, and Chairman)

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© 1984 Spectrum Publications, Inc.

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Dagi, T.F., Ojemann, R.G., Zervas, N.T. (1984). Incidence and Prevention of Infection after Neurosurgical Operations. In: Thompson, R.A., Green, J.R. (eds) Infectious Diseases of the Central Nervous System. Neurologic Illness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6332-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6332-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-6334-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-6332-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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