Eponyms in the Operating Room: Careers of Five American Physicians

Abstract

Many clinicians have made significant contributions to medical knowledge and practice; few have a procedure, a syndrome, a sign, an instrument, or other term named after them.1,2 Every medical specialty has common eponyms, and anesthesiology is no exception. In an earlier report, we examined the careers of six eponymous European physicians—Sydney Ringer (1835-1910), Friedrich Trendelenburg (1844-1924), August Karl Bier (1861-1949), Sir Ivan Whiteside Magill (1888-1986), Sir Robert Macintosh (1897-1990), and Brian Arthur Sellick (1918-1996).3 From the scores of individuals who have advanced our knowledge of anaesthesia and laid the foundations of our specialty,4 we have selected a few names that are used very commonly in operating rooms in the United States. We examine the lives and careers of these individuals to explore the circumstances that led to their contributions. We also comment on how and why their achievements continue to play such an important role in the daily practice of clinical anesthesiology the world over.