History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Neurosurgery ; history ; Singapore

History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Neurosurgery ; history ; Singapore

The oral history helps researchers to fill the gap in historical documents in research on the contemporary history of medicine in Korea. More and more studies in history of contemporary medicine in Korea have come out using oral history of doctors and patients. Based upon the author's research on development of neurosurgery in late 20th century Korea, this paper discusses how to apply oral history to contemporary history of medicine, focusing on oral history of doctors in Korea. In this paper the author describes how to do and use oral history of key doctors and medical scientists in the contemporary history of medicine in Korea. The oral history can be a powerful tool to complement the written documents as following. First, from their interview, doctors and medical scientists often provide valuable information which historians cannot get from documents and written sources. As intelligent interviewees, they not only understand the purpose of research but also help actively the historian-researcher-interviewer. Second, the oral history facilitates further searches and often it leads to more findings of informants, and written and image material. More often than not, doctors and medical scientists do their own research on the topic and provide the historian with valuable historical source material from their laboratories, bedsides, family and friends. Third, interviews with medical scientists and oral material produced by doctors and medical scientists helped the researcher to understand and interpret the papers and written documents. Fourth, the subjective stories told by the medical scientists provide perspectives and historical source as narrative truth. Before a historian attempts to use the oral material as complementary historial evidence, he or she needs to cross-check the validity and of objectivity of the oral material. Oral material is produced through bidirectional intersubjective interaction between the interviewer and interviewee, and critical reflection over the relationship between the two is crucial. Especially the researcher should keep an eye on the possible bias and strive for the objectivity of the oral material with discernment and reflection, when she or he found the interviewees of doctors and medical scientists closely connected together and tied together in a web of relationship with a common interest or agenda.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Complement System Proteins ; Eye ; Friends ; History of Medicine ; Humans ; Korea ; Neurosurgery

History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Neurosurgery ; history ; Philately ; United States

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was 1) to review the length of an adequate period of conservative treatment and the appropriate surgical indications for herniated lumbar disc(HLD), 2) to collate the scientific evidences on surgeries for HLD, and 3) to collect expert opinions on HLD. METHODS: We searched for articles in PubMed, the Cochrane Library and KoreaMed up to 1 October 2008, and these articles were concerned with the natural history of HDL, systemic reviews of HDL and expert opinions on HLD. We also searched for meta-analyses and randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials(RCTs or QRCTs) of surgery for HLD. We performed a meta-analysis using the Cochrane method. The survey consisting of 21 questions was delivered to all the members of the Korean Spinal Neurosurgery Society(KSNS) via E-mail. RESULTS: A total of 59 articles were included in this study. There were 16 articles concerning the period of conservative management and the surgical indications. Among the 33 articles on surgery for HLD, there were 4 meta-analyses, 27 RCTs, and 2 QRCTs. Among the 938 members of the KSNS, 72 responded to the survey. A minimum of 1 to 3 months of conservative management was the most preferred answer(58%), followed by a conservative management period of less than 1 month(33%). Percutaneous endoscopic discectomy was more preferred by the hospitals that specialized in spinetreatment than by the university hospitals(p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Conservative management for a minimum of 2 weeks to 3 months is recommended for patients with tolerable pain only. The patients with neurological compromise or intolerable pain should be considered for surgery. There is strong evidence on the relative effectiveness of surgical discectomy versus chemonucleolysis versus placebo. There is no scientific evidence on the effectiveness of any other form of minimally invasive procedure.
Diskectomy ; Electronic Mail ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Expert Testimony ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Chemolysis ; Natural History ; Neurosurgery

No abstract in English.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Neuralgia/history/surgery ; Neurophysiology/*history ; Neurosurgery/*history ; Therapeutic Human Experimentation/ethics/*history ; United States

History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures ; history ; trends ; Neurosurgery ; history ; trends

China ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Neurosurgery ; history ; methods ; trends

No Abstract Available.
United States ; Surgery/education/*history ; Physiology/history ; Neurosurgery/history ; Humans ; History, 20th Century ; History, 19th Century ; Blood Pressure Determination/history ; Bacteriology/history ; Animals ; Anesthesia/history

Many approaches are being used for exposure of the anterior cranial base regions, ranging from extracranial to intracranial, such as transsphenoidal approach. This intracranial approach, developed in the beginning of the twentieth century, has recently become one of the most commonly used approaches after many incremental improvements. This thesis aims at examining the development of the approach and those who contributed to this procedure. The author also contemplate problems which may occur in the historical analysis. From the nineteenth century, advances have been made in anesthesiology, sterilization, cerebral localization and knowledge of anatomical and physiologic aspects of the skull base. The development of new knowledge and technique has helped to overcome obstacles, making surgery of the skull base through extracranial approach both technically feasible and therapeutically effective. To avoid serious postoperative complications after the extracranial approach, transsphenoidal approach had been developed in the beginning of the twentieth century. Transsphenoidal approach had been widely used right after its introduction. But it had not been used popularly since late 1920s in the United States. In early 1960s, this technique, spread from Europe, has regained popularity and become one of the most widely-used approaches. In the history of the transsphenoidal approach, it has been thought that the effort of Harvey Cushing and Oskar Hirsch, the endeavor of Cushing's scholars, several new attempts of otolaryngologists played an important role. However, comparing to great appreciation of neurosurgeons, especially Harvey Cushing on their significant contribution to the further development of this technique, the role of other pioneering doctors have been underestimated in previous historical studies on the transsphenoidal approach. It was because dynamical relationships among several specialties had influence on the historical analysis. This cases shows that historical analysis is influenced not only by past figures but also by current situations.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 21st Cent. ; Neurosurgery/*history ; Skull Base/*surgery ; Surgery/*history