1929
The Kernohan notch phenomenon was first described by James Watson Kernohan, born 1897, Irish-born American pathologist in 1929 after an autopsy study revealed a notched cerebral peduncle from a contralateral herniation syndrome. 1).
Stienen et al. reviewed the original publication of Otto Veraguth in 1929 reporting on the successful resection of a lumbar disc herniation, published exclusively in the German language. His early report is put into the historical context, and its impact on the understanding of pathologies of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is estimated. The Swiss surgeon and Nobel Prize laureate Emil Theodor Kocher was among the first physicians to describe the traumatic rupture of the IVD in 1896. As early as 1909 Oppenheim and Krause published 2 case reports on surgery for a herniated lumbar disc 2).
Since its initial description by Hibbs and Swift in 1929 3) , lumbar fusions have been widely used to correct structural defects and degeneration of the lumbar spine, a common ailment in the geriatric population 4) 5).
In 1929, Nikolay Nilovich Burdenko and a neurologist V.V. Kramer founded the first neurosurgical clinic in Moscow, which was reorganized to the Institute of Neurosurgery in 1932. The Institute has come a long way through military and peaceful years, overcoming all sorts of obstacles. It has constantly developed, built, and modernized, and now this is the National Medical Research Center of Neurosurgery 6).
Publications
Penfield W. Neurosurgery. Can Med Assoc J. 1929 May;20(5):521-2. PubMed PMID: 20317340; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1710525. 7).