Nicholas Senn

Nicholas Senn (October 31, 1844 – January 2, 1908) was a Swiss-born American surgeon, instructor, and founder of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. He served as the president of the American Medical Association in 1897–98 and as chief surgeon of the Sixth Army Corps in 1898, seeing service in Cuba during the Spanish–American War. He was involved in experimental research, particularly of acute pancreatitis, plastic surgery, head and neck oncology, the intestinal tract, and the treatment of leukaemia with x-rays.

Early life and education

Senn was born in Buchs, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1852 when he was eight years old, settling in Ashford, Wisconsin. He graduated from the Chicago Medical College in 1868.

Career

Senn spent the first few years after graduating as practitioner and resident physician at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, later becoming attending physician in a Milwaukee hospital.

In 1877, he left for the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München for postgraduate study, graduating in 1878 with a second M.D.

In 1878, he joined the faculty of Rush Medical College in Chicago as Professor of Surgery.

In 1884, he was appointed as Professor of Surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago.

Around 1886, Senn successfully tested the diagnosis of gastrointestinal perforation by inflation with hydrogen gas. Senn used a rubber balloon connected to a rubber tube inserted in his anus to pump 6 liters of hydrogen gas into his intestinal tract. An assistant sealed the tube by squeezing the anus against it. The hydrogen was inserted by squeezing the balloon while monitoring the pressure on a manometer. Senn had previously carried out this experiment on dogs to the point of rupturing the intestine.