William Halsted
William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922) was an American surgeon.
One of the four founding physicians of Johns Hopkins Hospital: William Henry Welch, William Osler, Howard Kelly and William Stewart Halsted.
In 1885 he performed the first brachial plexus block via a surgical approach. Controversially Halstead performed a ‘secret’ operation on Rudolph Matas (1860-1957) Matas for a ‘mass’ in 1903. It was never divulged during the life time of either man. Only upon autopsy following Matas’ death, was it noted that he had undergone a right orchidectomy.
He is reported to be the first to perform a blood transfusion in the United States, on his sister following postpartum haemorrhage with her first child.
Biography
- Born 1852
- Died September 1922
Medical Eponyms
Halsted Gloves (1890)
With the publication of germ theory, Halsted was using carbolic acid to sterilize his and his nurse’s hands. His nurse was sensitive to the chemical, and it was damaging the skin on her hands. So he asked the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company if they could make a glove of rubber that could be dipped in carbolic acid. 6 years later everyone at Hopkins were using the gloves – and Halsted later married his scrub nurse…
Halsted operation
wide amputation of the breast with ablation of the pectoral muscles and local and axillary lymph node cleaning in the mammary carcinoma.
Halsted syndrome
postoperative oedema of the upper limb after extensive amputation of the breast.
Major Publications
- Halsted WS. Practical comments on the use and abuse of cocaine; suggested by invariably
- successful employment in more than a thousand minor surgical operations. NY Med J 1885; 42: 294–295.
References
Biography
- Matas R. William Stewart Halsted 1852-1922: an appreciation. Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin 1925; 36: 2-27.
- Fresquet JL. William Steward Halsted (1852-1922). Historia de la Medicina.
- Biography: Halsted, William Stewart (1852 – 1922). Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows Online. Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Eponymous terms
Eponym
the person behind the name
