Cushing's Ulcer: The Eponym and His Own

Abstract

One of the least remembered eponyms associated with Harvey Cushing is "Cushing's ulcer." The basis of this credit is a paper published in 1932 in which Cushing describes patients who postoperatively and unexpectedly died of perforated peptic ulcers. It is one of the first descriptions of a stress ulcer and a treatise on the brain-stomach connection. Harvey Cushing was puzzled by the pathogenesis of these peptic ulcerations and perforations and advanced several theories. The least plausible included the bile-vomiting theory suggesting that hemorrhagic ulceration could be produced by a combination of bile and acid in a patient recovering from the anesthetic. Other theories were stimulation of a parasympathetic center in the diencephalon or a disturbance of vagal centers in the brainstem. Quite surprisingly to Cushing, the Boston Herald implicitly insinuated that Cushing found the cause of ulcers and this claim upset him greatly. It is ironic that Harvey Cushing, in his later years with failing health, developed an ulcer himself. Cushing noted in his correspondence that he felt the agitation over this newspaper clipping caused his later ulcer. The first description of a neurogenic ulcer remains an important medical observation and is a testament to Cushing's broad accomplishments.