The Impact of World War One on Surgery (AQA GCSE History)

How important was World War One for surgical advancement? - Summary

World War One (1914-1918) was influential for the advancement of surgery. The large number of injured soldiers forced doctors to find new ways to treat wounds and save lives. X-rays became more widely used to locate bullets and shrapnel in the body, helping surgeons perform operations more safely. Blood transfusions were also developed further during the war, with methods to store blood, which made it possible to treat soldiers who had lost a lot of blood. Plastic surgery advanced thanks to surgeons like Harold Gillies, who developed techniques to reconstruct damaged faces. The Thomas Splint, a device to support broken legs, dramatically increased survival rates for soldiers with leg injuries, as it stopped blood loss from broken bones.

These advances were possible because of improvements in science and technology before the war. Germ Theory, for example, helped doctors understand the importance of sterilising equipment in Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS) to prevent infection. Technology like X-ray machines had been invented earlier but were now adapted for use in Base Hospitals.

Plastic surgery in World War One

• Head wounds accounted for 20% of all wounds in the British sector of the Western Front 

  • Injuries were mainly the result of bullets and shrapnel

• Surgeons had to develop new techniques to deal with the horrific consequences of these injuries

Harold Gillies

• A New Zealand doctor who specialised in ENT

  • He became interested in facial reconstruction during the war

• Gillies used skin grafts to help restore an injured soldier’s face

• He helped develop a specialist hospital in Kent, called the Queen’s Hospital

• By 1917, 12,000 surgeries had been carried out here

Francis Derwent Wood

• Derwent Wood was a sculptor

  • He wanted to use his artistic skills to improve the lives of injured soldiers

• Derwent Wood made metal masks that soldiers with facial injuries could wear

  • He used pre-war portraits of the men to make the masks look as realistic as possible

• He created the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department at the Third London General Hospital, Wandsworth

  • The ward helped soldiers from 1917 to 1919

  • It helped hundreds of soldiers to feel more confident and re-adjust to post-war life in Britain

Blood transfusions in World War One

• Before the First World War, progress had been made in the understanding of blood

  • Karl Landsteiner discovered the three main blood groups (A, B and O) by 1901

    • This solved the problem of donors rejecting transfused blood because it did not match their own type

  • Reuben Ottenberg identified Group O as the universal blood group

• Blood transfusions were used from 1915 in Base Hospitals and 1917 in CCSs

The Thomas Splint

• Wounded soldiers with compound fractures often died from blood loss or infection during transportation

• The use of the Thomas Splint helped to reduce these problems

  • Soldiers could be safely carried on a stretcher

  • The Thomas Splint kept the injured soldier’s leg rigid by pulling the bones and joints back together

    • Reduced movement limited the chance of internal bleeding

    • The number of leg amputations fell

X-Rays in World War One

• Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895

• X-rays enabled doctors to locate bullets and shrapnel before surgery

• Base Hospitals and some CCSs used unmoving X-rays

  • Marie Curie had equipped 20 mobile X-rays for the French Army

  • Close to the frontlines, six mobile X-rays were used 

    • The quality of the scans were not as good

    • The ability to travel to injured soldiers across the Western Front was very convenient