Halsted’s “Rules of Surgery”

Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.

You are welcome to submit questions and suggestions using our "Contact Us" form. The information on this blog follows the terms on our "Privacy and Security Statement" and cannot be construed as medical guidance or instructions for treatment.

A Moment in History

Jean George Bachmann
(1877 – 1959)

French physician–physiologist whose experimental work in the early twentieth century provided the first clear functional description of a preferential interatrial conduction pathway. This structure, eponymically named “Bachmann’s bundle”, plays a central role in normal atrial activation and in the pathophysiology of interatrial block and atrial arrhythmias.

As a young man, Bachmann served as a merchant sailor, crossing the Atlantic multiple times. He emigrated to the United States in 1902 and earned his medical degree at the top of his class from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1907. He stayed at this Medical College as a demonstrator and physiologist. In 1910, he joined Emory University in Atlanta. Between 1917 -1918 he served as a medical officer in the US Army. He retired from Emory in 1947 and continued his private medical practice until his death in 1959.

On the personal side, Bachmann was a man of many talents: a polyglot, he was fluent in German, French, Spanish and English. He was a chef in his own right and occasionally worked as a chef in international hotels. In fact, he paid his tuition at Jefferson Medical College, working both as a chef and as a language tutor.

The intrinsic cardiac conduction system was a major focus of cardiovascular research in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The atrioventricular (AV) node was discovered and described by Sunao Tawara and Karl Albert Aschoff in 1906, and the sinoatrial node by Arthur Keith and Martin Flack in 1907.

While the connections that distribute the electrical impulse from the AV node to the ventricles were known through the works of Wilhelm His Jr, in 1893 and Jan Evangelista Purkinje in 1839, the mechanism by which electrical impulses spread between the atria remained uncertain.

In 1916 Bachmann published a paper titled “The Inter-Auricular Time Interval” in the American Journal of Physiology. Bachmann measured activation times between the right and left atria and demonstrated that interruption of a distinct anterior interatrial muscular band resulted in delayed left atrial activation. He concluded that this band constituted the principal route for rapid interatrial conduction.

Subsequent anatomical and electrophysiological studies confirmed the importance of the structure described by Bachmann, which came to bear his name. Bachmann’s bundle is now recognized as a key determinant of atrial activation patterns, and its dysfunction is associated with interatrial block, atrial fibrillation, and abnormal P-wave morphology. His work remains foundational in both basic cardiac anatomy and clinical electrophysiology.

Sources and references
1. Bachmann G. “The inter-auricular time interval”. Am J Physiol. 1916;41:309–320.
2. Hurst JW. “Profiles in Cardiology: Jean George Bachmann (1877–1959)”. Clin Cardiol. 1987;10:185–187.
3. Lemery R, Guiraudon G, Veinot JP. “Anatomic description of Bachmann’s bundle and its relation to the atrial septum”. Am J Cardiol. 2003;91:148–152.
4. "Remembering the canonical discoverers of the core components of the mammalian cardiac conduction system: Keith and Flack, Aschoff and Tawara, His, and Purkinje" Icilio Cavero and Henry Holzgrefe Advances in Physiology Education 2022 46:4, 549-579.
5. Knol WG, de Vos CB, Crijns HJGM, et al. “The Bachmann bundle and interatrial conduction” Heart Rhythm. 2019;16:127–133.
6. “Iatrogenic biatrial flutter. The role of the Bachmann’s bundle” Constán E.; García F., Linde, A.. Complejo Hospitalario de Jaén, Jaén. Spain
7. Keith A, Flack M. The form and nature of the muscular connections between the primary divisions of the vertebrate heart. J Anat Physiol 41: 172–189, 1907.

"Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc., and the contributors of "Medical Terminology Daily" wish to thank all individuals who donate their bodies and tissues for the advancement of education and research”.

Click here for more information

Details: Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D.; Published: April 08, 2020; Hits: 8830

This article is part of the series "A Moment in History" where we honor those who have contributed to the growth of medical knowledge in the areas of anatomy, medicine, surgery, and medical research.

William Halsted (mouseover for S. Crowe)
William S. Halsted
mouseover for
Samuel J. Crowe

In my many years working with medical industry, surgeons, and surgery, I have heard many times that such and such surgical technique follows “Halsted’s Rules of Surgery”. The problem is that only two of these “rules” were mentioned and never did I receive an answer while working with Ethicon and Ethicon Endosurgery, and never did I receive an answer as to where could I find the reference regarding the other rules, if they even existed.

I recently read a great 1957 book by Samuel James Crowe, MD (1883-1952), titled “Halsted of John Hopkins; the man and his men”. Dr. Crowe lived for one year with Dr. William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922) and his wife as a medical student at John Hopkins. He was also an intern for Dr. Harvey Cushing, and although he wanted to follow Cushing into neurosurgery, Dr. Halsted placed him in charge of the newly created department of otolaryngology at John Hopkins, a position he did not want. Dr. Crowe went on to become a world-wide renown otolaryngologist.

Here are Halsted’s “Rules of Surgery” as explained by Dr. Crowe, based on Halsted’s research, experiments, and observations (with my own notes and comments):

1. Wounds are resistant to infection when no bits of tissue have been:

a. torn with clamps
b. torn by the rough handling of retractors
c. devitalized by hastily and carelessly applied ligatures

Note: this follows the ancient rule of “Primum Non Nocere”: first and foremost, do not harm

2. Wounds or parts rich in blood vessels usually heal without any visible granulation, even when no antiseptic precautions have been taken.

3. Incisions should be closed carefully and gently, layer by layer

4. The approximating sutures should never put the tissues under tension, since tension interferes with the blood supply and may cause necrosis

Note: Tension-avoidance surgical techniques follow this, one of the prime rules of surgery.

5. The end of the forceps used to pick up bleeding points should be small, to avoid crushing and destroying the vitality of surrounding tissues

Note: This observation led to the creation of fine, multiple toothed thumb forceps used today in cardiovascular surgery , such as the Cooley, DeBakey, Castaneda, etc. type forceps.

6. A drain is essential when there is necrotic tissue and infection

7. Silk should never be used in the presence of infection

Note: This makes sense. Since silk is an organic material, infected tissues will react to the presence of this extraneous material causing more inflammation, and the phagocytic cells in the tissues will destroy the silk and its capacity to hold the tissues together

8. The silk (suture) employed should never be coarser (larger gauge) than necessary and it is well to employ a suture a thread that is not stronger that the tissue it holds

9. A greater number of fine stitches is better than a few coarse ones

Note: This also makes sense. Halsted was known to be extremely meticulous and he could place a hundred stitches of fine silk thread where other surgeons would place a lesser number of coarser stitches. Using a larger number of fine stitches distributes the approximating tension of the sutures over a larger area, thus reducing the chance for suture dehiscence.

10. Avoid when possible the combined use of silk and catgut in a wound

11. For sewing up an abdominal wound, when it is necessary to take heavy deep stitches perforating skin and muscles, silver wire serves admirably

Note: Remember the times when these guiding principles where laid. Nylon, polypropylene, and other synthetic absorbable and non-absorbable sutures had yet to be discovered. Today the same dictum would probably say “For sewing up an abdominal wound, when it is necessary to take heavy deep stitches perforating skin and muscles, a synthetic non-absorbable suture material serves admirably”

It must be noted that Halsted never called the above the “rules of surgery”, rather they are observations that have become guiding principles. These have influenced the world of surgery to this day.

SIDE NOTE: It has been said many times that Dr. Halsted was the first to use rubber gloves. This is not true, Dr. Crowe says that “it was an evolution rather than a happy thought” and it involved his wife Caroline Hampton. This will be the subject of another article.

Halsted’s “Rules of Surgery”

Recent