Historical elements of Neurosurgery in Matanzas- 1920-1930 .

Abstract

Neurosurgery is one of the oldest medical specialties. The first report we have found about a neurosurgery intervention performed in Matanzas by local surgeons, appeared in MEDICA, Matanzas Medicine and Surgery Magazine, in 1922. It is a Dr. Jorge A. Trelles's work, and in it, he exposed, didactically, the details and characteristics of the surgery carried out, in the Civil Hospital , to a patient with a cranial depressed fracture on November 19 th , 1921. His impressions and points of view are showed in our work. MEDICA was the main exponent of the professional work of those times surgeons, fundamentally in its first publication period, from 1921 to 1930. It integrally reflected, among other activities related with Neurological Sciences, the visit of Dr. William Sharpe, a neurosurgeon from New York City , who visited Matanzas in August-December 1925. He showed authentic signs of solidarity and support to the development of Cuban medicine, through lectures, publications, letters and surgery interventions. It was an important event related with the development of the Central Nervous System Surgery during this period. With this work we try to approximate to the history of Neurosurgery in Matanzas , convinced of that our roots are an indispensable guaranty in our way to the future.