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Dating to the 1940s, this silent film (with French titles) shows a pioneering surgery for hypertension developed by Dr. Reginald H. Smithwick. The Lumbodorsal sympathectomy was viewed as the only effective treatment for intractable essential hypertension at that time. Smithwick worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital before being recruited by Boston University to serve as Chairman of Surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine and Surgeon-in-Chief at what was then the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital.
The film starts with application of anesthesia at 2:14, pre-surgical preparation and marking at 3:46, before getting into the full procedure. The film was made by J.P. Valdes of Kodak-Pathe.
Dr. Smithwick was an extremely innovative surgeon and was responsible for developing bilateral splanchnic sympathectomy as the only effective treatment for intractable essential hypertension at that time. Patients flocked to Boston from throughout the world for this operation, and colleagues and dignitaries were attracted to our institution to witness the performance of this procedure. Dr. Smithwick worked in conjunction with two world leaders in medicine, Dr. Chester Keefer, who was the Chief of Medicine and Dr. Robert W. Wilkins, who ironically put Smithwick out of the hypertension business with the development of the first effective medical therapy for essential hypertension. Thus, this was truly a remarkable era at Boston University School of Medicine.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
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