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Ann Thorac Surg 2004;78:741-745
© 2004 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Our surgical heritage

Alejandro Posadas, Argentinian pioneer: thoracic surgery in the Western world in his time

Hugo Esteva, MDa*

a Division of Thoracic Surgery, Hospital de Clínicas "José de San Martín," Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

* Address reprint requests to Dr Esteva, Av. San Martín 1039, Bella Vista, Buenos Aires 1661, Argentina
e-mail: hesteva@intramed.net.ar

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.


   Introduction
 
In November 1902, realizing that he was about to die, Alejandro Posadas (Fig 1), then aged 31, decided to travel to Europe to avoid local funeral homage [1]. On the one hundredth anniversary of his death, as a tribute to his austerity, this article wishes to draw attention to his work as a pioneer and founder of thoracic surgery in Argentina, as compared with the state of the art in the Western World. This article is based on the review of his book collection as well as that of Daniel Cranwell (an eminent contemporary surgeon and Posadas's classmate), both kept at the Library of the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine. Both surgeons were close friends and interns together at the University Hospital (Hospital de Clínicas) [2]. Additional historical material from the Patrimoine Médical de Marseille and the Library of the School of Medicine at the University of the Méditerranée was also reviewed.


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  		Fig 1. Alejandro Posadas operating on a lung hydatid cyst in the Hospital de Clínicas de Buenos Aires. (This picture has been taken from his movie.)

 

   Biographic notes
 
Alejandro Posadas, the son of a merchant from Vigo, Spain, who emigrated to Argentina, was born in 1870 in Saladillo, a small town in those days close to the Indian border in the middle of the province of Buenos Aires. He moved to the capital city in order to attend school at the Jesuit's College of El Salvador. In 1894, he graduated as a physician from the University of Buenos Aires.

As a student, he described coccidiodomycosis, initially called "psorospermiasis infectante generalizada" [3]. He not only characterized the clinical signs and symptoms of this disease, which until then was unknown in the world, but also clarified its anatomical, pathologic, and microbiologic properties in animal models. His mentor, . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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