How many of us chose to think and act differently when almost everyone we know ridicules the concept? It requires a lot of courage to think and act 'differently' in a scientific arena. Today I would like to narrate the story of Dr. Werner Frossmann who did exactly that. What happened to him makes an interesting and highly motivating reading!
Even as a student of Physiology Frossmann was a keen observer. He had seen an image of a man holding a rubber tube inserted into the jugular vein of a horse in an old French Physiology book in early 1920 s. This primitive picture left an indelible impression on the mind of this youngster for several years.
After his education, he became in intern at a small hospital outside Berlin. He suggested to his supervisors that such an experiment would be very rewarding if conducted and would give a lot of information about the heart. He went on to argue that this can be safely performed on man.
His supervisors summarily disagreed. They forbade his testing the procedure on a patient. Frossmann was determined. He offered an option. He said he would test it on himself! This offer was instantly refused. Nobody believed that he was right and that the experiment was safe.
Frossmann was made of a different stuff. He was certain that he was right and decided to try it out on himself with a secret experiment. He however thought that a vein in the arm would offer a safer route that a vein in the neck. With the help of another doctor, he anesthetized the crook of the arm, cut open a vein and inserted a slender rubber tube into it and asked his friend to push it forwards. The doctor who was helping lost his nerve midway and quit the experiment saying it was too dangerous.
In the summer of 1929, Frossmann tried it again this time with the help of a nurse. Hesitantly she helped him and guided him to the fluoroscope and held up a mirror so that he could see a shadowy image of his heart He watched the mirror and slowly advanced the tube to his heart. When he advanced the tube to 25 and a half inch, it entered the heart.He went into the X Ray room demanding a X Ray be taken. The technitian instead ran out and alerted his colleagues. A well meaning doctor tried to pull out the catheter. Frossmann had to kick him a couple times on his shin to get him back to his senses. He tried the experiment 8 times in next 2 years and even injected a dye into his own heart on one occasion. He had done the first cardiac catheterization without realizing it!
Frossmann moved out to a small West German town of Bad Kreuznach and started to work there quietly. All of a sudden his work got recognized - he was awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1956. along with American Cardiologists Andre Cournand and DW Richards. The sudden success left him stunned. He felt, remembering with pride, "like a village pastor who is suddenly informed that he has been made a cardinal!".
I wonder how many of us would proceed to prove a scientific fact on the face of a strong rejection? This is one example where one understands the importance of scientific reasoning and intuition over the current trend of "evidence based Medicine!"
Even as a student of Physiology Frossmann was a keen observer. He had seen an image of a man holding a rubber tube inserted into the jugular vein of a horse in an old French Physiology book in early 1920 s. This primitive picture left an indelible impression on the mind of this youngster for several years.
After his education, he became in intern at a small hospital outside Berlin. He suggested to his supervisors that such an experiment would be very rewarding if conducted and would give a lot of information about the heart. He went on to argue that this can be safely performed on man.
His supervisors summarily disagreed. They forbade his testing the procedure on a patient. Frossmann was determined. He offered an option. He said he would test it on himself! This offer was instantly refused. Nobody believed that he was right and that the experiment was safe.
Frossmann was made of a different stuff. He was certain that he was right and decided to try it out on himself with a secret experiment. He however thought that a vein in the arm would offer a safer route that a vein in the neck. With the help of another doctor, he anesthetized the crook of the arm, cut open a vein and inserted a slender rubber tube into it and asked his friend to push it forwards. The doctor who was helping lost his nerve midway and quit the experiment saying it was too dangerous.
In the summer of 1929, Frossmann tried it again this time with the help of a nurse. Hesitantly she helped him and guided him to the fluoroscope and held up a mirror so that he could see a shadowy image of his heart He watched the mirror and slowly advanced the tube to his heart. When he advanced the tube to 25 and a half inch, it entered the heart.He went into the X Ray room demanding a X Ray be taken. The technitian instead ran out and alerted his colleagues. A well meaning doctor tried to pull out the catheter. Frossmann had to kick him a couple times on his shin to get him back to his senses. He tried the experiment 8 times in next 2 years and even injected a dye into his own heart on one occasion. He had done the first cardiac catheterization without realizing it!
Frossmann moved out to a small West German town of Bad Kreuznach and started to work there quietly. All of a sudden his work got recognized - he was awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1956. along with American Cardiologists Andre Cournand and DW Richards. The sudden success left him stunned. He felt, remembering with pride, "like a village pastor who is suddenly informed that he has been made a cardinal!".
I wonder how many of us would proceed to prove a scientific fact on the face of a strong rejection? This is one example where one understands the importance of scientific reasoning and intuition over the current trend of "evidence based Medicine!"
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