European contribution to the thoracic surgery speciality. Contribution of the countries of the continent

Abstract

In previous works, we have analyzed the German and British contribution to general Thoracic Surgery and then we developed what had been occurring during the same time in the rest of Europe. We will examine the lack of a Professional Society suitable for the development of Thoracic Surgery, in spite of the existence of surgeons who had begun to develop novel techniques during these years. In the north of Europe, Thoracic Surgery had been initiated with Dr. Jacobeus of Stockholm. In the Netherlands, the first pneumonectomy was performed due to a picture of bronchiectasis in the year 1940. During that time, surgical treatment was performed in approximately 1200 patients suffering tuberculosis conditions with approximately 2% surgical mortality. The contribution in Belgium evolved favorably after the year 1930 and there was a subsequent separation of General and Digestive Surgery from Cardiac, Osteoarticular, Urology and Neurosurgery. In 1970, when extrafascial plombage with fat was begun, Dr. LeBrigand contributed new techniques for treatment of tuberculosis and in thoracic traumas and tracheal-bronchial lesions. Meanwhile, in Marcela, the first practices of bronchographies were conducted and works on experimental lung transplants were begun. The contribution of Iberia and of Italian Surgery were collected in Spain with names such as Dr. González Duarte or Gil Turner and the Italian participation was fundamentally begun between the years 1,900 and 1,976 with the performance of pulmonary and esophageal surgery, standing out, among others, Dr. Erino A Rendina. In Austria, they began with colapsotherapy, performing thoracoplasties, artificial pneumothorax and phrenicectomies. In Turkey and in Greece, the equinococosis was a serious health problem and many techniques were developed for its treatment. Similarly, distal esophageal fundoplications were performed and Antalaya School of Thoracic Surgery was developed. It has been difficult to gather data in regards to the said area of the Eastern Bloc. Until the Berlin Wall fell, the problem was to find reliable sources of information. It was in those countries in which pulmonary surgery was developed and in which esophageal surgical was assimilated. Thus, in the 1930's, the mediastinal approach through the abdomen was proposed and thoracic esophageal-gastric anastomeses were performed by Uglov. Finally, we point out that the School of St. Petersburg is considered as the representative of the surgery of the Russian Federation and in which important periods of development were begun, which have been included in our current bibliographic citations.