外科研究

第二十六章 外科研究

1.The scientist is not content to stop at the obvious.

—— Charles H.Mayo, 1865——1939

【译文】科学家不满足于停留在显而易见的层面。

2.Only by passing through the fire of experiment will medicine as a whole become what it should be, namely, a conscious and, hence, always purposefully acting science.

—— Ivan Pavlov, 1849——1936

【译文】只有通过实验的火焰,作为一个整体的医学才能淬炼出其应有的模样:一门有意识、有目的发挥作用的科学。

3.The hospital, the operating room, and the wards should be laboratories,laboratories of the highest order.

—— William Stewart Halsted, 1852——1922

【译文】医院、手术室和每一间病房都像一个实验室,而且是最高级别的实验室。

【点评】这句话对当下那些轻临床重实验室科研的临床医生来说非常重要。病房、手术室才是临床医生科研的重要阵地,是临床医生最独特、最高级别的实验室。

4.The first attribute of a surgeon is an insatiable curiosity.

—— Russell John Howard, 1875——1942

【译文】外科医生最大的特点是永不满足的好奇心。

【点评】因为它比其他专科医生更方便接近真相。

5.He who combines the knowledge of physiology and surgery, in addition to the artistic side of his subject, reaches the highest ideal in medicine.

—— Theodor Billroth, 1829——1894

【译文】除了其主攻专业的技艺之外,还能把生理学和外科学知识结合起来的人,就能达到医学的最高境界。

【点评】这才是完美的外科学。

6.I think your solution is just; but why think? Why not try the experiments?

—— John Hunter, 1728——1793

【译文】我认为你的解决方案是正确的,但为什么只是想?为什么不尝试通过实验(来验证)呢?

7.If "a thought" comes to mind, but there is no proof that "that thought",is true/real, and while you can think and investigate for the possibility of "that thought", being true/real, don't start treating "that thought" until there is proof of it being true/real.

—— Mark M.Ravitch, 1910——1989

【译文】如果“一个想法”浮现在脑海,但没有证据表明“那个想法”真实、可行,你可以通过思考和研究来证实“那个想法”的可能性,但直到确凿证据出现之前,不要着手处理“那个想法”。

【点评】不要窒息和掐灭了难得的灵感。

8.The surgeon's ideas, even if abstract, must be put into practice before they can be judged.The man who puts his thoughts into action will always excite opposition, for the mind is more conscious of the effect of deeds than words.

—— William E.Tanner, 1889——1912

【译文】外科医生的想法,即使是抽象的,也必须付诸实践后才能评判。将思想付诸行动的人总是会招来反对,因为和言语相比,人们更能意识到行动的效果。

9.In the collection of evidence upon any medical subject, there are but three sources from which we can hope to obtain it: from observation of the living subject;from examination of the dead; and from experiment upon living animals.

—— Astley Paston Cooper, 1768——1841

【译文】在收集任何医学问题的证据时,无非三个来源:观察活体对象;剖检死者;以及活体动物实验。

【点评】迄今为止,这依然是获得医学研究原始证据的三个重要途径。

10.It is given to a few of us to be Columbuses of great continents of surgery——given to but few to discover such a principle as antisepsis as did Lord Lister——but all of us have at times our small triumphs, all of us are workers in the cause and all of us add something to knowledge.

—— J.Chalmers Da Costa, 1863——1933

【译文】我们当中极少数人被赋予了发现外科“新大陆”,从而成为哥伦布的机会——几乎没有人能像李斯特勋爵那样发现防腐消毒法则——然而,我们大家时不时也会有些小小胜利,我们都是外科事业中的一员,都为外科知识体系添砖加瓦。

【点评】说得太好了!旷世奇才毕竟是凤毛麟角。大多数人就是普通一员,也正是每个普通一员的无数次小小胜利垒起了如今这幢宏伟的外科知识大厦。

11.Discovery is rarely, if ever, a sudden achievement, nor is it the work of one man; a long series of observations, each in turn received in doubt and discussed in hostility, are familiarized by time, and lead at last to the gradual disclosure of truth.

—— Berkeley Moynihan, 1865——1936

【译文】即使有发现,也很少是突然的成就,也不是单个人工作;而是一个大的系列观察,其中每一个反过来又接受质疑和针锋相对的讨论,随着时间的推移而被熟悉,最终逐步揭露真相。

12.Surgical advance is something, which, if tested in a rat will produce a publication.It is a surgical innovation when the rat survives.

【译文】所谓外科进展,无非就是用老鼠做个实验,然后发表一篇论文,如果老鼠活下来了,就完成了一项外科创新。

【点评】虽然语言简单粗暴,但细细琢磨也没说错。

13.A single significant discovery during a lifetime of research means success.

—— Frank Mann

【译文】在毕生的研究中,只要有一个有意义的发现就意味着成功。

【点评】多少学者鞠躬尽瘁一辈子也难有这份成功。

14.Scientific truth, which I formerly thought of as fixed, as though it could be weighed and measured, is changeable.Add a fact, change the outlook, and you have a new truth.Truth is a constant variable.We seek it, we find it, our viewpoint changes, and the truth changes to meet it.

—— William J.Mayo, 1861——1939(https://www.daowen.com)

【译文】以前我认为科学真理固定不变,就好像能够进行称重和测量(的一个实体),但事实上真理是可变的。添加一个事实,改变观点,你就有了新的真理。真理是一个恒定的变量。我们寻找它,发现它,我们的观点改变,真理也随之改变。

【点评】没有一成不变的真理。随着人们认识手段的更新和认识的深入,真理就会不断更新,越来越接近事实的真相。

15.The purpose of a retrospective study is to kick us in the head, to challenge an assumption and to stimulate the design of a study that will generate class one data.

—— Michael McGonigal

【译文】回顾性研究的目的是敲敲我们的脑袋,去挑战一个假设,并促进我们设计出一个将要产生一流数据的研究。

【点评】有志于有所作为的外科医生不能止步于回顾性研究。

16.The surgical investigator must be a bridge tender, channeling knowledge from biologic science to the patient's bedside and back again.He traces his origin from both ends of the bridge.He is thus a bastard, and is called this by everybody.Those at one end of the bridge say that he is not a very good scientist, and those at the other end say he does not spend enough time in the operating room.

—— Francis D.Moore, 1913——2001

【译文】外科研究者必须承担起一位活动吊桥的司桥工的角色,将生物科学引渡到患者的床边,然后再返回来。他在桥的两端盘查其来历。他就是这样一个混蛋,大家都这么叫他。桥一端的人说他不是一个很好的科学家,另一端的人说他没有在手术室待足够的时间。

【点评】“a bridge tender(活动吊桥司桥工)”这个词用得绝!以前我们常听说“医学研究人员是从临床到实验室的桥梁”,但普通桥梁多是常年开放、随意通行的。只有活动吊桥的看管人才需要一方面判断桥面两端人员、车辆是否有通过需求,另一方面要知道一旦吊桥合龙是否会阻碍桥下船只通行安全来决定桥面何时放行?放行多长时间?分处病床旁和实验室两侧的研究人员的确不是随意自由通行的,而是要经过多方面的考量后才决定是否可引渡的。

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17.Conceptually, the surgeon and bench scientist differ in three ways.The scientist knows that he does not know, whereas the clinical surgeon treating patients is expected to know.The scientist can wait for all the data to become available,whereas the surgeon must make a decision based on available data.The scientist deals with mass data, whereas the surgeon deals with an individual patient.

—— Joseph E.Murray

【译文】从概念而言,外科医生和实验研究科学家有3个方面不同。科学家知道他自己有所不知,但临床外科医生则背负着“都知道”的期望;科学家可以等待所有数据到手,而外科医生则必须根据到手的数据做出决定;科学家处理的是群体数据,而外科医生处理的是个体化的患者。

【点评】背负着“都知道”的期望这一点很考验人。遇到不知道的问题我们是顺势假装知道敷衍患者了事,还是心怀坦诚和敬畏,如实告诉我们的患者或同事去另请高明,这既考验我们的德行也直接关系到患者的安危。

【考注】以上两段引言的作者分别是Francis Moore和Joseph Murray,他们都是哈佛大学医学院的外科学教授。前者是外科主任,后者是整形外科医生。Murray因1954年主刀完成世界第一例成功的肾移植手术而与另外一名从事骨髓移植的内科医生Donnall Thomas 共同获得了1992 年的诺贝尔医学奖。1954年12月23日那天,获取供肾后,Francis Moore将其亲自送到Murray手上,而Moore本人并未参加手术。令人敬佩的更是后来他还亲自为Joseph Murray给诺贝尔奖评委会写推荐信。当然,在此之前,真正肾移植的前期实验和临床基础工作是由另外一个外科医生David Hume在1949——1953年期间所完成。该医生1953离开哈佛去了Richmond,不幸的是,他在自驾飞机的事故中于1973 年5月19日殒命(此背景资料由曾在Francis Moore实验室工作过的华裔外科医生Min Xu提供,现就职于美国波士顿Tufts Medical Center)。

18.Medical scientists are nice people, but you should not let them treat you.

—— August Bier, 1861——1949

【译文】医学科学家是好人,但你不应该让他们为你治病。

【点评】目前,国内各种“好医生”评价指标常常将“杰出科学家”和“好医生”混作一团,这样会有意无意中误导患者,坑害患者。

19.When doctors, statisticians and scientists become ill, they ask "who is the best doctor for this problem?" and not "which multi-centre controlled trial would be best for me?"

—— E.J.Freireich

【译文】医生、统计学家和科学家生病时,他们会问:“谁是这方面最好的医生?”而不是“哪个多中心对照试验最适合我?”

【点评】这应该是两个不同的概念,不能混为一谈。

20.An active clinical surgical position with its responsibilities for human life does not permit serious investigative work to be conducted at the same time.

—— Elliot Carr Cutler, 1888——1947

【译文】一个对患者生命负责、承担有临床救治任务的外科职位不允许同时进行严谨的研究工作。

【点评】这就是为什么进行任何严谨的临床试验时必须经过严格的伦理审查的原因。

21.One can accept a purely practical or a purely theoretical life ...one may practice the art upon suffering humanity or prosecute the science, upon which practice rests, in the absolute solitude of the laboratory.One life is filled with multivarious humanity, with the closest association with men; the other may be as isolated as that of religious hermits who live in mountain caves and reckon their devotion according to their isolation.

—— Elliot Carr Cutler, 1888——1947

【译文】我们可以接受一种纯实用或者一种纯理论的生涯……一个为遭受疾苦的人们践行技艺,一个在极度孤独的实验室中从事为临床实践服务的科学研究,前者的生活阅尽人生百态,与人保持最密切的联系;后者的生活可能像生活在山洞里的隐士一样与世隔绝,以孤寂衡量其奉献。

【点评】临床医生和实验室科学家是有着很大区别的两类人,是两种不同的生活方式。但现代外科学的发展越来越需要能自由穿梭于临床与实验室两个领域的跨界人才。

22.The size of a clinic, an institute, the number of grants-obtained by all kinds of tricks-have little to do with creativity.Often activism and gigantism are mistaken for research.

—— Hans Troidl

【译文】一个诊所、研究所的规模,以及其通过各种花招拿到资助经费的多少,与其创造力几乎没有什么关联。人们通常误把“积极的态度”和“体量大”当作科研。

【点评】怎么好像是在说当下我们的某些医疗机构呢!

23.It is easier to obtain grants for imaginary things than real problems.The former feeds thoughts on success while the reality is known and unsolvable.

—— P.O.Nystrom

【译文】想象的东西比解决现实问题的研究更容易得到资助。前者为成功提供思想,而后者无非就是已知道的和无法解决的。

【点评】坊间的说法是“看不懂的课题容易中标”。

24.One cannot be brief about a subject unless one knows it well.

—— Mary Evans

【译文】除非对某个主题了如指掌,否则无法做出简明扼要的表述。

【点评】深入才能浅出。

25.Whoever is desirous of pursuing his medical studies on a right plan must pay a good deal of attention to the different seasons of the year and their respective influence.

—— James Alexander Lindsay

【译文】凡欲按正确计划进行医学研究者,都必须十分注意一年中的不同季节及其各自的影响。

【点评】不同季节气候变化对疾病发生发展的影响是不应被忽视的。