TAIT, Robert Lawson (1845 – 1899)

1879

#6071

Removal of normal ovaries.

Lawson Tait reported that he had performed Battey’s operation on 1 August 1872, 16 days before Battey. See No. 6062.

1881

#6075

A case of removal of the uterine appendages.

Oöphorectomy, February 1881.

1884

#6081

General summary of conclusions from one thousand cases of abdominal section.

Tait was probably the greatest of the ovariotomists. He abandoned Listerian principles of antisepsis, relying on “scrupulous attention to cleanliness of every kind and in all directions”.

1884

#6196

Five cases of extra-uterine pregnancy operated upon at the time of rupture.

The first successful operation for ruptured ectopic pregnancy was performed by Lawson Tait on 1 March 1883.

1887 –1888

#6087

On the method of flap-splitting in certain plastic operations.

Tait devised a flap-splitting operation for retocele which, with some modifications, is in use today.

1888

#6199

Lectures on ectopic pregnancy and pelvic haematocele.

1890

#3570.1

Surgical treatment of typhlitis.

Lawson Tait was the first British surgeon to diagnose acute appendicitis and to treat it by removal of the appendix (May 1880). See J. A. Shepherd, Lawson Tait. The rebellious surgeon. Lawrence, Kansas, Coronado Press…

1890

#6245

An address on the surgical aspect of impacted labour.

The Tait–Porro operation, by which Tait performed Caesarean section in cases of placenta previa.

1892

#6093.1

On the occurrence of pleural effusion in association with disease of the abdomen.

Lawson Tait was apparently the first to describe what is now known as Meigs’s syndrome (ovarian fibroma combined with pleural effusion).