Astley Cooper - Famous Brooke Resident
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Famous Brooke Residents Astley Cooper (1768-1841)
Astley Paston Cooper was born at Brooke Hall on the 23rd of August 1768.
His father, Dr Samuel Cooper, was a clergyman of the Church of England; his mother was the author of several novels. At the age of sixteen he was sent to London and placed under Henry Cline (1750-1827), surgeon to St Thomas hospital.
From the first he devoted himself to the study of anatomy, and had the privilege of attending the lectures of John Hunter. In 1789 he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at St Thomas hospital, where in 1791 he became joint lecturer with Cline in anatomy and surgery, and in 1800 he was appointed surgeon to Guys hospital, on the death of his uncle, William Cooper.
In 1813 he was said to have earned £21,000 and was appointed professor of comparative anatomy to the Royal College of Surgeons where he was very popular as a lecturer. In 1817 he performed his famous operation of tying the abdominal aorta for aneurism. In 1821, he was made a baronet for removing a sebaceous cyst from the scalp of King George IV.
Cooper was the most popular surgeon in London during the early nineteenth-century. He was appointed sergeant surgeon to George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria.
He served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1827 and again in 1836, and he was elected a vice-president of the Royal Society in 1830. He died on the 12th of February 1841 in London, and was interred, by his own desire, beneath the chapel of Guys hospital.
Today, his name is remembered in Brooke with a plaque near the site of Brooke Hall and by a road named after him off High Green.
Surgical Achievements
In 1800 he presented to the Royal Society of Medicine cases of eustachian dysfunction and the use of myringotomy in the treatment of this condition. For this work he was awarded the Copley Medal. In both 1804 and 1807 he published 'The anatomy and surgical treatment of inguinal and congenital hernias' regarded by many at the time as a seminal work in the field. In it he first describes the anatomy of the cremasteric fascia, the pectineal ligament and the transversalis fascia.
Probably his greatest contribution to surgery has innovative work in the field of vascular surgery. Much of his research was into the pathophysiology of the cerebral circulation. He demonstrated that ligation of both carotid arteries in the dog failed to cause significant pathological effects due to he dominance of the vertebral arteries in this species. As a result of these studies he postulated that it should be possible to treat vascular aneurysmal disease by ligation of the vessel proximal to the lesion.
In 1805 he ligated the common carotid artery but unfortunately the patient died 48 hours later. In 1808 he ligated the external iliac artery for a femoral aneurysm and in 1817 he ligated the aorta for an iliac aneurysm. The specimen from this operation remains to date in the museum at St Thomas' Hospital. As a result of his contribution to vascular surgery the approach to the external iliac artery is named after him. The suspensory ligaments of the breast are named after him. His treatise on dislocations and fractures (1820) remained the final word on the subject in England and America for thirty years.
Publications
Sir Astley Cooper's Publications [From the British Library]
The Lectures of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart, FRS, On the Principles and Practices of Surgery 1824-1827.
Observations on Structure and Diseases of the Testis, [with plates] 1830.
On the Anatomy of the Breast, 1840.
Surgical Essays, 1818.
Three Instances of Obstruction of the Thoracic Duct, with some Experiments, shewing the effect of tying that vessel.
A Treatise on Dislocations and Fractures of the Joints, 1823, 1826, 1829, 1841, 1842.
The Life of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart. Interspersed with sketches from his note-books of distinguished contemporary characters (with a portrait) 1843.
Harvey and Blythe, Short account of Sir Astley Cooper`s Vital Restorative, the only acknowledged successful remedy for the removal of general, local and nervous debility. 1864, 1865.
BROCK Russell Claude, Baron Brock, The Life and Work of Sir Astley Cooper [with a portrait].
Astley Paston Cooper, Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Hernia. London, 1827.
natomy of the Thymus Gland, 1832.
A Case of Strangulated Hernia.
Illustrations of Diseases of the Breast, 1829.