The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 56, 988-989, Copyright © 1993 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Hugh Morriston Davies: first dissection lobectomy in 1912
AP Naef
University of Lausanne Medical School, Switzerland.
Hugh Morriston Davies (1879-1965), long before anybody else, performed the
first anatomic dissection lobectomy for a tumor of the lung in 1912. By
replacing the hilar mass-ligation-suture technique, he was decades ahead of
his time, and had his patient not died 8 days after the operation, he would
have preceded Evarts Graham's first lung resection for cancer by 21 years!
An all-around chest physician and surgeon in one, he had introduced chest
radiography and positive- pressure intratracheal anesthesia the year
before, thus making the diagnosis and operation of this lung cancer
possible. He concluded that lung cancer was accessible to surgical removal
on condition of an early diagnosis. By destiny a surgeon as well as a
physician, Morriston Davies was probably the earliest advocate of
interdisciplinary teamwork in thoracic medicine.
