150 years ago: Schwartze's 1873 mastoidectomy and its implementation over the following 2years.

Abstract

In 1873, Hermann Schwartze and Adolf Eysell described anew surgical technique for treating mastoid disease using amallet, chisels, and gouges of various sizes instead of trephines or drill instruments also called "modern mastoidectomy." On the 150th jubilee of this landmark article, we pay tribute by studying the reception and implementation of mastoidectomy in the 2years following its publication. The commentaries published in the otological and medical literature between the second part of 1873 to the end of 1875 were studied with an emphasis on the three specialized otological journals and the otological textbooks that existed during this period. The princeps paper Ueber die künstliche Eröffnung des Warzenfortsatzes ("On the artificial opening of the mastoid process") by Hermann Schwartze and Adolf Eysell published in 1873 was rapidly disseminated in the medical literature for nearly 1year, and then entered aphase of evaluation followed by aphase of extension and implementation, before finding its definitive place in the history of mastoid process surgery.