Robert D. Acland
Robert Acland | |
---|---|
Born | Robert Dyke Acland June 20, 1941 Exeter, England |
Died | January 6, 2016 (aged 74) |
Alma mater | London Hospital Medical College |
Medical career | |
Profession | surgeon |
Field | plastic and reconstructive surgery |
Institutions | University of Louisville |
Research | microsurgery, fresh tissue dissection |
Notable works | Acland's Video Atlas of Human Anatomy |
Robert D. Acland, MBBS, FRCS (June 20, 1941 – January 6, 2016) was a surgeon and academic credited with being one of the pioneers in plastic and reconstructive microsurgery. He was the younger son of Richard Acland and his wife Anne.[1] He developed one of the first microsurgical instruments, the Acland micro-vessel clamp,[2] as well as the 10-0 nylon sutures and needles that are still used today. He published the first edition of Acland's Practice Manual for Micro-vascular Surgery, also known as the "Red Book", a manual on microsurgical techniques (1997). The current edition was revised in 2008[3] and is still an essential tool for any trainee in microsurgical techniques and fundamentals of surgical microscopes and their use.
Acland was also a clinical
Acland's major published work consists of the comprehensive Video Atlas of Human Anatomy.[4] The video atlas depicts moving structures and pioneers new and highly effective techniques of anatomical videography for a clear three-dimensional understanding of spatial relationships. The unique dynamic and 3-D perspective was achieved using innovative camera rotation techniques pioneered at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Early life and education
Robert Acland was born on June 20, 1941, in
Robert Acland grew up in the dower house at Killerton instead of the main manor house. He went to the village school and then to Bryanston School in Dorset, where he said he developed "a great interest in breaking rules." He had the opportunity to learn carpentry and welding at Bryanston, practical skills that he would later put to use as a surgeon.[5]
Acland started at
Acland applied for and received two years of funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to improve the instruments used in microsurgery. It was unusual for surgical trainees to receive MRC funding, and Acland suspected that the Scottish plastic surgeon Thomas Gibson may have played a part in approving his application.[7] With this funding he returned to London Hospital in 1970, where he improved the tiny needles and thread used in microsurgery, invented the "Acland micro vessel clamp," and investigated how to prevent microthrombosis.[5] He developed smaller needles and thread for microsurgery, making them himself. Acland realized that he needed to commercialize the process[5] and initially approached Ethicon, then the largest suture manufacturer in Britain, with a proposal to do so. They thought microsurgery sutures would not sell well and turned him down. Acland then turned to Springler and Tritt, a startup suture company in southern Germany.[9] Acland then trained as a registrar in plastic surgery at Canniesburn Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, from 1972 to 1975.[10]
Career
While at Canniesburn Hospital, Acland performed meticulous microsurgery operations that could last up to 14 hours. The medical establishment at the
Acland played a key role in the founding of the University of Louisville's fresh tissue dissection laboratory in 1981. A retired surgeon, Herbert Wald, asked Acland and two other surgeons, Harold Kleinert and Gordon Tobin, to help pay for a large walk-in refrigerator for unembalmed cadaver preservation. While it was immediately useful, Tobin thought that it resembled a dungeon cell, located as it was in the basement of a University of Louisville medical building.[6] Acland was appointed director of the fresh tissue laboratory in 1983[5] upon Dr. Wald's full retirement, and under his leadership the laboratory was substantially expanded and improved. As director, Acland began to transition away from teaching microsurgery in favor of teaching anatomy.[6]
Acland's Video Atlas of Human Anatomy
Acland began making a video atlas of anatomy in the fall of 1993. Although he had been considering such a project for years, the immediate cause was a conversation he had with a medical student, Suzanne l'Ecuyer, at the University of Louisville, after giving a lecture on the importance of anatomy in clinical practice.[13] His goal in producing the video atlas was to dissect lightly embalmed cadavers in order to preserve natural tissue appearance and demonstrate structures moving as they would in the living body. He also wanted to help students understand three-dimensional anatomical relationships by rotating the camera around specimens. Acland considered the project to be his personal "Sistine Chapel".[6]
Personal life
Acland was married three times and had four children.[5] He married his first wife, Sarah Wood, in 1963.[14] A fellow student at the London Hospital Medical College, she became a psychiatrist and accompanied him when he moved to the United States in 1975.[5] They had two children together; Beatrice, born in 1966, and Daniel, born in 1969. He divorced Sarah in 1983 and that same year married Susan Bishop of Louisville, Kentucky. He had two children with her; Benjamin, born in 1985, and Emily, born in 1987. He divorced Susan in 1990.[14] In 1992 he married Bette Levy, a respected local textile artist,[15] to whom he was married until his death in 2016.[5] According to Sarah, as of 2016 all three wives live in the Louisville area and get along well.[5]
Illness and death
Acland was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, in September 2014. He died on January 6, 2016, some 16 months later. He was 74 years old when he died.[5]
Notes
- ^ At the time, the term senior registrar referred to a doctor senior to a house officer but junior to a consultant.[8]
References
- ^ The Courier-Journal via Legacy.com. 8 January 2016. Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2016.
- PMID 4590759.
- PMC 2740510.
- ^ Acland, Robert D. "Acland's Video Atlas of Human Anatomy". Acland's Video Atlas of Human Anatomy.
- ^ S2CID 220104276.
- ^ S2CID 78519539.
- ^ PMID 29249675.
- ^ "Registrar". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins.
- ISBN 978-1413492996.
- ^ Runyon, Keith (23 February 1976). "Microsurgery". Courier Journal. Louisville, Kentucky.
- PMID 27833270.
- ^ Kleinert, Harold. "Hand Surgery in Louisville". Kleinert-Kutz Hand Center. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- ^ Acland, Robert. "How the Project Began". Acland's Video Atlas of Human Anatomy. Wolters Kluwer.
- ^ ISBN 978-0971196629.
- ^ Kramer, Elizabeth (29 May 2016). "Artist's Show Marks Swan Song at Patio Gallery". Courier Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. p. 21.