Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-bp2c4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-20T03:27:44.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

History of instruments used for mastoidectomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2017

A Mudry
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Aim:

To present the historical development of specific instruments used for mastoidectomy and their resulting implications for this surgery.

Method:

Compilation of original written documents, trade catalogues and collections of instruments used in mastoid surgery, with a review of the secondary literature on the subject.

Results:

The first surgical opening of the mastoid was performed by Petit in 1736 with a trepanation system. More than one and a half centuries later, in 1873, Schwartze codified the operation using chisels and gouges. At the end of the nineteenth century, Macewen introduced the electrical dental burr for mastoid surgery, but it remained largely unrecognised. At the beginning of the 1950s, the systematic use of the microscope in ear surgery allowed generalised use of the drill and improvement of the suction-irrigation system.

Conclusion:

Three instrumental periods are recognisable in the history of mastoidectomy: the trepan period, the chisel and gouge period, and the electrical drill period.

Keywords

HistoryMastoidectomyEarOtologyInstruments

Information

Type
Review Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 123 , Issue 6 , June 2009 , pp. 583 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1 Davis, A. Medicine and Its Technology. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1981Google Scholar
2 Kirkup, J. The evolution of surgical instruments. Novato: Historyofscience.com, 2005Google Scholar
3 Shambaugh, G Jr. Surgery of the Ear. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1959Google Scholar
4 Brothwell, D, Sandison, A. Diseases in Antiquity. Springfield: Thomas, 1967Google Scholar
5 Mudry, A. Contribution of Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) to otology. Am J Otol 1999;20:809–13Google Scholar
6 Riolan the Younger J. Textbook of Anatomy and Pathology [in Latin]. Paris: Méturas, 1648Google Scholar
7 Sunder, S, Jackler, R, Blevins, N. Virtuosity with the mallet and gouge: the brilliant triumph of the “modern” mastoid operation. Otolaryngol Clin North Am 2006;39:1191–210CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8 Bouchet, A. On skull trepanation and its related instruments [in French]. Rev Lyon Med 1968;17:333–42Google Scholar
9 Ballance, C. Essays on the Surgery of the Temporal Bone. London: Macmillan, 1919Google Scholar
10 Thompson, CJS. The History and Evolution of Surgical Instruments. New York: Schuman, 1942 (reprint Mansfield: Martino, 1999)Google Scholar
11 Petit, JL. Treatise on Surgical Diseases and their Related Operations [in French]. Paris: Didot, 1774;1Google Scholar
12 Schmucker, JL. Various Surgical Writings [in German]. Berlin: Nicolai, 1782;3:113–25Google Scholar
13 Arneman, D. Remarks Concerning Trepanation of Mastoid Process in Particular Cases of Deafness [in German]. Göttingen: Vanderhoeh und Ruprecht, 1792Google Scholar
14 Bennion, E. Antique medical instruments. London: Sotheby, 1979, 1986Google Scholar
15 Whiting, F. The Modern Mastoid Operation. Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1905Google Scholar
16 Snowden & Brother. Illustrated Wholesale Calatogue of Surgical and Dental Instruments…. Philadelphia: Chandler, 1860 (Reprint San Francisco: Norman, 1997)Google Scholar
17 Weiss J & Son. A Catalogue of Surgical Instruments, Apparatus, Appliances, Etc. London: Rickerby, 1863 (Reprint San Francisco: Norman, 1997)Google Scholar
18 Forget, A. On mastoid trepanation and morbid lesions necessitating it [in French]. Union Medicale 1860;14:193–200Google Scholar
19 Schwartze, H, Eysell, A. On the artificial opening of the mastoid process [in German]. Arch Ohrenheil 1873;7:157–87Google Scholar
20 Dench, EB. Diseases of the Ear. New York: Appleton, 1894;518Google Scholar
21 Buck, A. Diagnosis and Treatment of Ear Diseases. New York: Wood, 1880;368Google Scholar
22 Buck, A. Diagnosis and Treatment of Ear Diseases. New York: Wood, 1880Google Scholar
23 Buck, A. Diagnosis and Treatment of Ear Diseases, 2nd edn. New York: Wood, 1889Google Scholar
24 Buck, A. A Treatise on Diseases of the Ear, 3rd edn. New York: Wood, 1898Google Scholar
25 West, E, Scott, S. The Operations of Aural Surgery. Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1909;42Google Scholar
26 Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology [in German]. Berlin: Windler, 1909Google Scholar
27 Pfau, H. Instruments for ENT [in German], 4th edn. Berlin: Unger, 1917Google Scholar
28 Illustrated ENT Tracheo-broncho-oesophagology Instruments Catalogue [in French]. Paris: Luer, 1913Google Scholar
29 Illustrations of Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat, Tonsil, Bronchus, Esophagus and Stomach Surgical Instruments. New York: Kny-Scheerer Company, 1914Google Scholar
30 Surgeons' Instruments and Equipment for Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat, 7th edn. Chicago: Mueller, 1929Google Scholar
31 Kopetzki, S. The Surgery of the Ear. New York: Rebman, 1908Google Scholar
32 Kopetzki, S. Surgery of the Ear, 2nd edn. New York: Nelson, 1947Google Scholar
33 Garretson, J. The surgical engine. Ann Anat Surg 1882;7:99–115Google Scholar
34 Macewen, W. Pyogenic Infective Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord. Glasgow: Maclehose, 1893. (Reprint Birmingham, The Classics of Neurology & Neurosurgery Library, 1983)Google Scholar
35 Macewen, W. Pyogenic Infective Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord. Glasgow: Maclehose, 1893;304Google Scholar
36 Bacon, CJ. A Manual of Otology. London: Kimpton, 1899;301Google Scholar
37 Barr, T. Manual of Diseases of the Ear, 2nd edn. Glasgow: Maclehose, 1896Google Scholar
38 Halasz, H. Mastoid trepanation with a dental drill [in German]. Monatsschr Ohrenheil 1899;33:489–95Google Scholar
39 Sturm, . On the use of the drill for treatment of chronic middle ear diseases [in German]. Zeitschr Ohrenheil 1902;41:132–7Google Scholar
40 Holmgren, G. Operations on the temporal bone, carried out with the help of the lens and the microscope. Acta Otolaryngol (Stockh) 1922;4:386–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41 Lempert, J. Simple subcortical mastoidectomy. Arch Otolaryngol 1928;7:201–28Google Scholar
42 Cawthorne, T. The surgery of the temporal bone. J Laryngol Otol 1953;67:377–91Google Scholar
43 House, WF. Forty years of ear after ear, year after year. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1996;114:717–19Google Scholar
44 Gembloux, . Extracts from general ENT catalogue [in French]. Simal: Manufacture belge de Gembloux, 1950Google Scholar
45 Shambaugh, G. Surgery of the Ear, 2nd edn. Philadelphia: Saunders, 196Google Scholar
46 Glenner, R. Development of the dental drill. J Am Dental Assoc 1974;88:712–27CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
47 Michelson, R. Air driven hand piece for temporal bone surgery. Laryngoscope 1960;70:1566–9Google Scholar