The stories in Dutch surgeon Arnold van de Laar’s book — based on true events in the lives of the famous and also those not so-well-known — are not a complete account of the history of surgery. Instead, the narrations are more an interpretation from a surgical perspective than an accurate account. Piecing together tales of surgery “in 28 remarkable operations,” they dip into historical sources, interviews, reports, biographies and what has appeared, but abridged, in the journal of the Dutch Surgical Association, to bring alive the complexities of the human body.
What is surgery and what was it in the past? How does the body respond when under siege: by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell or even a bullet? What can an operation repair? Another relevant question that binds the book is: Why did the most common operations arise and who thought of them? The answers to these and much more can be found across the book. At its heart though are his riveting accounts that flesh out fascinating tales: of the “tracheotomy of the century” performed on John F. Kennedy who was wheeled into the emergency room in Dallas “with a gaping bullet wound to the head” dripping blood and brain tissue, to the surgery on Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK’s assassin, which ended in every surgeon’s nightmare ( mors in tabula or death on the operating table) after an 85-minute operation and a loss of almost eight and a half litres of blood. Interestingly, both men were operated on by the same surgeon. Other splendid stories are of the miracle bullet which spared the life of Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), to the slow death of escape artist Harry Houdini (a case of appendicitis) to the passing away of Albert Einstein (from an AAA or an abdominal aortic aneurysm).
Dr. Laars, a first-time writer, has more. He lists the story of the gluttonous popes as “intriguing” and one that strikes a chord in him because of what he calls his special interest in operating on people with obesity problems. The one about keyhole surgery is educative. He also has his favourite (because of its Amsterdam connection) — of Jan de Doot and his bladder stone and how he operated on himself. Other subjects dealt with deft and incisive flourishes are gangrene, laproscopy, hernia, prosthesis, stroke, gastrectomy, cancer, fracture, wound healing, varicose veins and, interestingly, the placebo. The glossary, bibliography and the many explainers (on sutures, for example) are rich additions.
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Finally, says Dr. Laars, even if technology ensures that minimally invasive treatment is a key concept of the future, there will still be a place for the man with the scalpel to save lives.
Under the Knife: The History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations ; Arnold Van De Laar, John Murray/ Hachette, ₹699.