Surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

Three distinct periods may be identified in the development of surgical methods for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. A. First Period This covers the 18th and the first half of the 19th century. The object of surgical operations was the draining of abscesses: “Ubi pus-ibi evacua” (Hippocrates, fifth to fourth centuries, B.C.). First reports of draining of tuberculous cavities in the lungs go back as far as the 18th century (1). The results of these operations were poor. It was only in 1844 that Hastings diagnosed and Storks successfully drained a cavity in the superior lobe of the left lung (2). For the next almost 40 years, there were no further reports of surgery being used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.