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The scalpel: From flint to zirconium-coated steel (2018)
The origin and evolution of the surgical scalpel from flint to zirconium-coated steel are highlighted in this surgery history article.
Barbers working during the Renaissance period, including fathers of modern surgery such as Guy de Chauliac and Ambroise Paré, used ornamented scalpels with artistic flourishes that enjoyed wide popularity for several hundred years. For all the improvements evident in contemporary surgical technology, electron microscopic images actually confirm that the edge of Neolithic obsidian blades exceed today’s steel scalpels in sharpness. Today, the modern surgeon relies on a wide array of technologically advanced and ever-changing equipment, yet the operation still begins with the scalpel, the profession’s oldest instrument.
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