1109 THE PATH TO THE MODERN “BOVIE”

Abstract

You have accessJournal of UrologyHistory of Urology Forum1 Apr 20131109 THE PATH TO THE MODERN “BOVIE” Courtney K. Rowe and Adam S. Kibel Courtney K. RoweCourtney K. Rowe Boston, MA More articles by this author and Adam S. KibelAdam S. Kibel Boston, MA More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2013.02.701AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES It is hard to imagine the modern operating theater without the electrocautery device known as the “Bovie.” While decades of experimentation by urologists and others paved the way for this innovation, in the end it was the side by side collaboration between neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing and biophysicist William Bovie in the operating rooms of the Brigham Hospital that created this mainstay of contemporary surgery. METHODS A search was conducted of scientific publications as well as primary documents available at the Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library of Harvard Medical School. RESULTS Though a neurosurgeon eventually popularized electrocautery, urologists were some of the first adopters of this technique in the late 1800s. In these early days, electrosurgical principles were being developed in tandem with new cystoscopic technology, but poor visualization and difficulty providing appropriate current limited the usefulness of these first devices. Outside these endoscopic experiments, electrocautery remained largely ignored. In the early 1900s, physicist Lee de Forest tried to interest surgeons in the use of a needle electrode with a bulky power supply. It was finally trialed in 1908 by various surgeons including urologist Edwin Beer, but this apparatus was eventually determined too cumbersome for clinical use. While Beer went on to publish breakthroughs in cystoscopic fulguration, the advantage of electrocautery as a more generally applicable tool went unrecognized until the historic collaboration between Cushing and Bovie from 1926-27. While numerous surgeons and physicists had dabbled separately with the technology, these two were uniquely situated. Cushing had spent decades pondering the issue of operative hemostasis, while Bovie had made it his goal to combine biology and physics into a single practice. When they finally met at the Brigham Hospital, it took months side by side in the operating room, plus the hospital securing an alternating current electrical source, before Cushing and Bovie perfected this device. After this, it was their willingness to forego financial return in the name of speedy innovation that allowed rapid manufacturing and eventual widespread popularity of the device. CONCLUSIONS The development of the “Bovie” device was far from a chance occurrence. It took dedicated inter-disciplinary collaboration between two pioneers in their fields and the support of the hospital where they worked to bring this breakthrough innovation to the forefront of modern surgery. © 2013 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 189Issue 4SApril 2013Page: e454 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2013 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Courtney K. Rowe Boston, MA More articles by this author Adam S. Kibel Boston, MA More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...