Hugh Pemberton
Hugh Spear Pemberton (1890-1956) was an English physician.
Specific interest in diabetes. Published papers in the British Medical Journal on diabetes, thyrotoxicosis, peripheral vascular disease, and hospital planning
Pemberton’s description of the eponymous Pemberton Sign appeared in a brief letter to The Lancet in 1946
Biography
- Born June 1890
- 1913 – MB ChB, Liverpool University
- 1914-1918 RAMC in WWI
- 1921 – MRCP
- 1922 – Founded the diabetic clinic at the Northern Hospital
- 1946 – FRCP
- Died on January 15, 1956
Medical Eponyms
Pemberton sign (1946)
The development of facial plethora, cyanosis and distension of neck veins with raising both arms simultaneously (Pemberton maneuver).
Positive test indicates thoracic inlet obstruction, originally described in patients with retrosternal goitre but may also be seen in lung carcinoma, lymphomas, thymomas, dermoid cysts or aortic aneurysms.
SIR,-There is a useful sign given by a submerged or intrathoracic goitre which I have employed and taught for many years. It consists in getting the patient to elevate both arms until they touch the sides of the head; after a moment or so, congestion of the face, some cyanosis, and lastly distress become apparent – presumably from narrowing of the thoracic inlet and obstruction of the venous return. I have not seen it in superior mediastinal block. Doubtless the sign has been described before and even bears a name, but I am unaware of it.
Lancet, 1946
Major Publications
- Grainger A, Gregson DA, Pemberton HS. Thiouracil in the Treatment of Thyrotoxicosis. Br Med J. 1945 Sep 15;2(4419):343-5
- Pemberton HS. Sign of submerged goitre. The Lancet, 1946; 248(6423): 509. [Pemberton Sign]
- Pemberton HS, Hunter WR. Intestinal actinomycosis treated with streptomycin. Lancet. 1949 Jun 25;1(6565):1094
- Hotston RD, Pemberton HS. Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Lancet. 1947 Apr 12;1(6450):499.
- Fox JG, McCinnell RB, Pemberton HS, Watson DC. Method of preventing insulin atrophy. Br Med J. 1953 Nov 28;2(4847):1202-3.
- Pemberton HS. The clinical aspects of obesity. Practitioner. 1955 Jul;175(1045):5-11.
- Evans RW, Littler TR, Pemberton HS. Glycogen storage in the liver in diabetes mellitus. J Clin Pathol. 1955 May;8(2):110-3. doi: 10.1136/jcp.8.2.110.
References
Biography
- Obituary. HS Pemberton. Br Med J 1956;1:237-8
- Zhou H., McHenry C. Hugh Spear Pemberton. In: Pasieka J., Lee J. (eds) Surgical Endocrinopathies. Springer 2015 [Google]
- Biography: Hugh Spear Pemberton. Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Munk’s Roll: Volume V:327.
Eponymous sign
- Wallace C, Siminoski K. The Pemberton sign. Ann Intern Med. 1996 Oct 1;125(7):568-9.
- Anders H, Keller C. Pemberton’s maneuver – a clinical test for latent superior vena cava syndrome caused by a substernal mass. Eur J Med Res. 1997 Nov 28;2(11):488-90.
- Basaria S, Salvatori R. Images in clinical medicine. Pemberton’s sign. N Engl J Med. 2004 Mar 25;350(13):1338
- Jukić T, Kusić Z. Image in endocrinology. Pemberton’s sign in patient with substernal goiter. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Sep;95(9):4175.
- De Filippis EA, Sabet A, Sun MR, Garber JR. Pemberton’s sign: explained nearly 70 years later. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Jun;99(6):1949-54
- Resende PN, de Menezes MB, Silva GA, Vianna EO. Pemberton Sign: A Recommendation to Perform Arm Elevation Spirometry With Flow-Volume Loops. Chest. 2015 Dec;148(6):e168-e170.
Eponym
the person behind the name
