tailieunhanh - Trial and Error: J. Marion Sims and the Birth of Modern Gynecology in the American South

If a patient has previously undergone a hysterectomy, the cervix is usually no longer present and only a vaginal cuff remains. If the pathology was benign, then the patient no longer requires Pap smears (11). However, if the hysterectomy was performed for cervical cancer or dysplasia, cervical cancer screening on the vaginal cuff should continue since remnants of cervical tissue may be present. These women are also at higher risk for vaginal in- traepithelial neoplasia (VAIN) and vaginal cancer. If the hysterectomy was performed for benign causes, yet the patient has had documented HPV in- fection or multiple sexual partners, she is at slightly higher risk for vaginal cancer,. | 1 Trial and Error J. Marion Sims and the Birth of Modern Gynecology in the American South By Urmi Engineer candidate in History UC Santa Cruz Introduction Until very recently many gynecological textbooks and historical accounts have referred to James Marion Sims as the Father of American Gynecology and the Father of Modern Gynecology because of his pioneering research in female reproductive surgery. Examining the Sims life in a world historical perspective as a social biography reveals the colonial origins of the field of gynecology and the degree to which colonial ideologies of race and gender impacted the development of modern medical institutions and practices throughout the world. Sims a South Carolina native became the world s leading authority on female reproductive health after he spent several years in Alabama conducting painful experiments on enslaved women in his backyard hospital during the 1840s. By the late nineteenth century he was internationally praised and rewarded for his surgical discoveries he is attributed with the invention the Sims Speculum and the Sims Position and he patented the use of silver sutures as opposed to lead silk or catguti which typically caused infections . He was the founder of the nation s first women s hospital in New York City and he traveled to France Italy Germany Portugal Spain and other European venues to demonstrate his surgical techniques and aid in the establishment of women s hospitals in those countries. Sims influence extended throughout the United States and Europe and in many ways he was responsible for articulating gynecology as a specialized medical discipline in modern medical institutions. Ideas about biological difference based on race class and ethnicity formed the basis of Sims experimental methodology but these issues were largely ignored among medical elites for most of the twentieth century. Sims professional success shows the impact he had on medical institutions on a global level and his .