Peptic Ulcer: Rise and fall

Abstract

In May 2000, a distinguished group of scientists and clinicians came together in a one-day meeting to discuss the recent history of peptic ulcer, and its rise and fall. Chaired by Professor Roy Pounder from the Royal Free Hospital, witnesses described their personal experiences, and events that have affected the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of peptic ulcer through the twentieth century. This volume includes an account by Nobel Prize Winner, Sir James Black, of the introduction in the 1970s of the H2 receptor antagonists which added a new dimension to treatment of peptic ulcer disease, and also considers the discovery by Barry Marshall and colleagues of Helicobacter pylori as a causative factor in duodenal and gastric ulcers, which opened up new opportunities in the management of gastrointestinal disorders. Aetiology, therapeutic clinical trials, surgical procedures and advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy are also discussed. Among those who contributed were: Dr John Atherton, Dr Hugh Baron, Sir James Black, Dr Joseph N Blau, Sir Christopher Booth, Mr Roger Celestin, the late Dr Nelson Coghill, Dr Gerard Crean, Dr Booth Danesh, Professor Graham Dockray, Sir Richard Doll, Dr Peter Down, Sir Patrick Forrest, Professor Stewart Goodwin, Dr Jean Guy, Professor Michael Hobsley, Dr Peter Hunter, Dr Belinda Johnston, Professor Roger Jones, Mr Raymond Kirk, Professor Michael Langman, Professor John Lennard-Jones, Dr Robert Logan, Professor Kenneth McColl, Dr George Misiewicz, Professor Timothy Northfield, Professor Colm Ó’Moráin, Dr John Paulley, Professor Robert Steiner, Mr Frank Tovey, Dr David Tyrrell and Dr John Wood. Christie D A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2002) Peptic Ulcer: Rise and fall, Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 14. London: The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL.