Thoracic outlet syndromes: Update 1987

Abstract

It is a great honor to be invited to deliver the 13th Annual Edgar J. Poth Lecture to the Southwestern Surgical Congress. This lecture was originated by the Congress to honor one of its most distinguished members. Doctor Poth was born in Seguin, Texas on February 1,1899. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, his doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of California with a dissertation in atomic physics, and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1931. He then served his internship, surgical residency, and faculty appointment at Stanford University Medical Center in San Francisco until 1939 when he was appointed chief of the department of surgery at the University of Arkansas. In 1943, Dr. Poth was named professor of surgery at the University of Texas in Galveston, and became chief of the division of general surgery there in 1962. In 1964, he was named the first Ashbell Smith Professor of Surgery of the University of Texas, and he still holds that title today, emeritus. Dr. Poth has been an active member of the Southwestern Surgical Congress, serving as chairman of the planning committee that established the Sponsored Resident Program, and was elected president of the Congress in 1963. During four decades of active research, he made numerous contributions in the fields of pathophysiology of intestinal obstruction, peptic ulcer disease, and antibiotic bowel preparation. He was principally responsible for introducing succinylsulfathiazole (Sulfasuxidine@) as the original bowel preparation for colon surgery, and he was the first to maintain a dog on extracorporeal circulation in the early 1930s. He was elected governor of the American College of