Martínez MG

Language: Spanish
References: 15
Page: 335-342
PDF size: 113.07 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To narrate the life and work of Allen Oldfather Whipple.
Design: Historical essay (15 references).
Setting: Transplant surgery, department of surgery, University hospital.
Results: Allen Oldfather Whipple was born in Persia on September 2, 1881. He coursed his graduate studies at Princeton, and received his Medical Doctor degree from Columbia University in 1908. His surgical training was achieved at the Roosevelt and Presbyterian hospitals in New York. In 1921, he was appointed head of surgery and Tenure Professor at the Presbyterian Hospital, where he remained until 1946. Whipple together with a multidisciplinary team established the “Spleen Clinic”, in which diverse hepato-pancreato-biliary and splenic diseases were studied. He described and performed the first surgeries to treat portal hypertension. He defined the diagnostic triad of hyperinsulinemia, which carries his name, he played a relevant role in the development of the surgical treatment of pancreatic tumors and is worldwide recognized for his pancreatic resection technique. He was a honorary member of many scientific societies, counselor to diverse universities, president of the American College of Surgeons, and was granted numerous awards. He was self-critical and disciplined, and was a surgeon with great abilities, very much interested in medical-surgical education. A man of fine education, he was cordial with a high spiritual sense and a firm believer in his faith. A cultivated man of many facets greatly endowed as counselor. He died on April 6, 1963, leaving behind a great surgical and educational heritage to the American surgery of the XX century.

REFERENCES

1. Sabiston DC Jr. Allen O. Whipple surgical society. Introduction. Surgery 1973; 74: 471-3.

2. St. John FB. Allen Oldfather Whipple, 1881-1963. Trans Am Surg Assoc 1964; 82: 471-2.

3. Chen TS, Chen PS. The Whipples and their legacies in medicine. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1993; 176: 501-6.

4. Nathan H, Allen O. Whipple. Med Welt 1976; 27: 948-50.

5. Edmonson JM, Allen O. Whipple. Pancreatoduodenectomy. Gastroint Endosc 2001; 54: 19A-20A.

6. To the memory of Allen Oldfather Whipple, B.S. M.D. Sc.D 1881-1963. Major Prob Clin Surg 1964; 1:v-vi.

7. Busnardo AC, DiDio LJ, Tidrick ET, Thomford NE. History of the pancreas. Am J Surg 1983; 146: 539-50.

8. Whipple AO. Present-day surgery of the pancreas. New Engl J Med 1942; 226: 526.

9. Martínez MG, Toledo-Pereyra LH. Frederick Grant Banting. Cirujano, Caballero y Premio Nobel. Cir Ciruj 2000; 68: 124-131.

10. Whipple AO. A reminiscence: pancreaticoduodenectomy. Surgery 1963; 20: 221-5.

11. Whipple AO. Hyperinsulinism in relation to pancreatic tumors. Surgery 1944; 16: 289-305.

12. Peters JH, Carey LC. Historical review of pancreatoduodenectomy. Am J Surg 1991; 161: 219-25.

13. Whipple AO. Observations on radical surgery for lesions of the pancreas. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1946; 82: 623-31.

14. Whipple AO, Parsons WB, Mullins CR. Treatment of carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater. Ann Surg 1935; 102: 763-9.

15. Evans DB, Lee JE, Pisters PW. Pancreatoduodenectomy (Whipple Operation) and total Pancreatectomy for Cancer. In: Nyhus LM, Baker RJ, Fischer JE. Mastery of Surgery. 3rd. Edition. Boston: Little-Brown: 1997: 1233-49.