TY - JOUR
T1 - Alfred Washington Adson
T2 - Perspectives on Intracranial Neurosurgery and the Responsibilities of the Neurosurgeon
AU - Nguyen, Brandon A.
AU - Parikh, Parth P.
AU - Nguyen, Andrew
AU - Singh, Rohin
AU - Stonnington, Henry O.
AU - Bendok, Bernard R.
AU - Quinones-Hinojosa, Alfredo
AU - Spinner, Robert
AU - Meyer, Fredric
AU - Bydon, Mohamad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2023. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/4/1
Y1 - 2024/4/1
N2 - In a period when the budding field of neurosurgery was believed to have little promise, Dr Alfred Washington Adson founded and led the first neurosurgical department at Mayo Clinic. He was not without reservations-surgical intervention for neurological conditions was rarely pursued because of poor outcomes and high complication rates, and Dr Adson acknowledged his early concerns about the future of neurosurgery in his memoirs. However, his education, mentorship, his training, and his first neurosurgical cases helped to shape the impact he ultimately had on the field and his legacy as a neurosurgeon. Dr Adson trained with several renowned Mayo general surgeons, notably his mentor Dr Emil Beckman, whose desire for operative precision shaped Dr Adson's drive to develop his own skills as a surgeon. Two years into his residency, he became the youngest staff surgeon and was tasked with managing the neurosurgical cases at Mayo. The five neurosurgical cases overseen by Dr Adson in the next year illuminated the opportunity for neurosurgery to drastically improve the lives of patients. Dr Adson, given the option of continuing as either a general surgeon or a neurosurgeon, ultimately chose to pursue neurosurgery. This article seeks to provide a historical perspective on the neurosurgeon Dr Alfred Washington Adson using primary and secondary accounts from the Mayo archives, highlighting his contributions to the early understanding of intracranial pathology and how his early experiences as a trainee developed into a personal passion for self-improvement, education, and advocacy for health care in America.
AB - In a period when the budding field of neurosurgery was believed to have little promise, Dr Alfred Washington Adson founded and led the first neurosurgical department at Mayo Clinic. He was not without reservations-surgical intervention for neurological conditions was rarely pursued because of poor outcomes and high complication rates, and Dr Adson acknowledged his early concerns about the future of neurosurgery in his memoirs. However, his education, mentorship, his training, and his first neurosurgical cases helped to shape the impact he ultimately had on the field and his legacy as a neurosurgeon. Dr Adson trained with several renowned Mayo general surgeons, notably his mentor Dr Emil Beckman, whose desire for operative precision shaped Dr Adson's drive to develop his own skills as a surgeon. Two years into his residency, he became the youngest staff surgeon and was tasked with managing the neurosurgical cases at Mayo. The five neurosurgical cases overseen by Dr Adson in the next year illuminated the opportunity for neurosurgery to drastically improve the lives of patients. Dr Adson, given the option of continuing as either a general surgeon or a neurosurgeon, ultimately chose to pursue neurosurgery. This article seeks to provide a historical perspective on the neurosurgeon Dr Alfred Washington Adson using primary and secondary accounts from the Mayo archives, highlighting his contributions to the early understanding of intracranial pathology and how his early experiences as a trainee developed into a personal passion for self-improvement, education, and advocacy for health care in America.
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U2 - 10.1227/neu.0000000000002758
DO - 10.1227/neu.0000000000002758
M3 - Article
C2 - 38497807
AN - SCOPUS:85188045751
SN - 0148-396X
VL - 94
SP - 875
EP - 881
JO - Neurosurgery
JF - Neurosurgery
IS - 4
ER -