Medicine:Wangensteen suction
A Wangensteen suction apparatus is a modified siphon that maintains constant negative pressure. Used on a duodenal tube, it relieves gastric and intestinal distention caused by the retention of fluid.[1] It was first created by Owen Harding Wangensteen (1898–1981), the Chief of Surgery at the University of Minnesota.[2][3] His novel approach to the most important cause of death during gastrointestinal surgery has since been credited with saving more than one hundred thousand lives.[4]
In popular culture
The Wangensteen apparatus is featured in the first half of "Good Bye, Radar," a two-part episode from the eighth season of the television series M*A*S*H. When the camp's electric generator breaks down, the doctors assemble a device from kitchen and surgical supplies to drain fluid from a patient's abdomen. [5]
References
- ↑ "Wangensteen suction". Stedman's Medical Spellchecker. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2006. http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/medical/wangensteen_suction.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ↑ England, Royal College of Surgeons of. "Wangensteen, Owen Harding - Biographical entry - Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online" (in en-gb). https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E007026b.htm.
- ↑ Paul C. Matson, M.D. (2003-09-17). "2003 Inaugural Address". 150th Minnesota Medical Association Annual Meeting. Minnesota Medical Association. http://www.mmaonline.net/AbouttheMMA/AnnualMeeting/2003AnnualMeeting/2003Inaugural/tabid/2055/Default.aspx.
- ↑ The Gale Group, Inc. (2001). "The 1980s: Medicine and Health: Deaths". American Decades. Encyclopedia.com. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468303200.html. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ↑ "Good-Bye Radar: Part 1". M*A*S*H. Season 8. Episode 4. October 1979. CBS.
 |  |
