| Alfred Hitchcock was born in Westminster
on this day in 1813. He had no connection to the future director
and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, instead, this Alfred Hitchcock would
become a noted surgeon and author.
He was the first man to “perform the operation of oesophagotomy.”
Such operations were performed when something obstructed the esophagus.
Hitchcock would make a strategic incision and remove the object.
Hitchcock also was among the first to develop surgery for correcting
a strangulated hernia. Until this innovative surgery, many had died
when these hernias cut off circulation to a vital organ.
Diagram courtesy clevelandclinic.org
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Diagram shows the human digestive
tract. In pink, from the tongue to the stomach is the esophagus.
Alfred Hitchcock created and perfected surgery to clear blockages
of the esophagus.
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