Time for the first @BedsideRounds #histmed thread, written by @BrendanTDaly!
Most of you probably know the Circle of Willis - the anastomosis blood supply to the brain. So who was this guy Willis?
Most of you probably know the Circle of Willis - the anastomosis blood supply to the brain. So who was this guy Willis?
He came to prominence as a physician in 1650 with the “Miraculous deliverance of Anne Green” in which he “resurrected” and then exonerated a woman who was falsely accused and hanged for the murder of her child.
Willis is now known for his detailed case notes where he described osteomyelitis, nephrotic syndromes, meningitis and narcolepsy.
None of these diseases were new. What set his work apart is that Willis combined these notes with his work as an anatomist to try to explain mechanistic reasons behind the various diseases.
He tried to study the parts in order to gain insight into the whole. This is where his seminal work Cerebri Anatome comes in - and his Circle comes from.
In this book depicted detailed dissections of the brain and spinal cord. Here Willis reorganized the first six cranial nerves as we know them today,
(He also named the “seventh” and “eighth” cranial nerve, what we today know as the vestibulocochlear and vagus nerve)
(He also named the “seventh” and “eighth” cranial nerve, what we today know as the vestibulocochlear and vagus nerve)
But the truly important case study was his description of a right carotid artery was completely occluded. Willis states “so that the influx of the blood being denied by this route, it seemed remarkable that this person had not died previously of an apoplexy"
He goes on to say “For indeed, nature had provided a sufficient remedy against the risk of apoplexy in the vertebral artery of the same side in which the carotid was wanting, since the size of this vessel was enlarged, becoming thrice that of the contralateral vessel”
These insights demonstrated his understanding of the anastomosis of the brain , and he earns the naming rights to the Circle of Willis
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And finally, let us know what you think about this thread! What sort of historical content would be interested in seeing?
Thanks all!
Thanks all!
@BrendanTDaly Sources include:
Thomas Willis and the background to Cerebri Anatome (O'Connor), Thomas Willis, the Restoration and the First Works of Neurology (Caron), Founders of Modern Medicine.I (pg 165, Adams)
Images from Cerebri Anatome via archive.com and NLM archives.
Thomas Willis and the background to Cerebri Anatome (O'Connor), Thomas Willis, the Restoration and the First Works of Neurology (Caron), Founders of Modern Medicine.I (pg 165, Adams)
Images from Cerebri Anatome via archive.com and NLM archives.
