pediatric housecalls Robert R. Jarrett M.D. M.B.A. FAAP

15 Accidental Medical Discoveries – Part III

March 15, 2018

Much of medicine is uncertainty, but one thing you can be sure of is that: ANYTHING that is discovered is HARD WORK and NOTHING worthwhile just pops into existence! However, that being said, in this series of articles I’ve described more than a few times what I’m calling Brilliant-Serendipity. The amazing things which continually seem to occur and alter the course of human suffering and change its practice forever.
Brilliant Serendipity
Part one of this journey began with the first five of the 15 or so accidental medical discoveries I intend to mention – from microscopes to Viagra. We had to continue in part two – Penicillin to Ulcers; but even that left some over.

Now, here are some more who owe their origin to “happy accidents,” coupled with the receptive, curious and prepared mind of someone who just happened to pursue the answers to their questions till they got them. But, this will be all, I promise, for I realize now that nearly every good thing comes from beyond human capabilities, and I would never be finished.

Accidental Medical Discoveries
Beyond Human Capabilities

Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923)

Discovery and Contribution:The “X-ray” (1895); revolutionized physics and medicine

Wilhelm Roentgen wasn’t a doctor. He wasn’t even associated with medicine; but his “accidental” discovery stood medicine “on its ear.”

He was a physicist, in his lab full of cathode ray tubes, doing his usual physicist stuff when he actually “noticed” something that he had seen before: that most physicists doing physicist stuff had seen before.

There was a mysterious green glow on some rudimentary photosensitive plates coming from the cathode rays he was experimenting with in a vacuum tube. That struck his curiosity and eventually he could tell that somehow these rays could penetrate through bodily parts and even show parts hidden inside—like bones.

He wrote a research article containing a photo that revealed the bones in his wife’s hand which went as “viral” as things could back then! Holey Moley—this was the discovery of a completely unknown type of radiation… “X” (the physicist term for “unknown”) Rays!

Of course, medicine jumped on the new discovery immediately, but its benefits were wide-ranging for several other disciplines… the kings of Sweden and Norway were so impressed they gave Roentgen their Nobel Prize in 1901 for physics.

It wasn’t too long afterwards however that the harmful effects of the x-rays were also discovered… nobody gives prizes for those discoveries. Fortunately for us all, ways to prevent harmful effects were also found enabling “Roentgenograms” to earn a solid place in the practice of medicine.

Oskar Minkowski (1858-1931) and Joseph von Mering (1849-1908)

Discovery and Contribution:The Pancreas/Diabetes Connection (1889); (eventual) discovery of insulin and the management of diabetes

Most people have their “chance meetings” at cocktail parties just like all the movies and TV programs show us they do; but, not nerds.

Long before there even was a word for what they were, perhaps even before there were slide-rules to wear in their shirt pockets to identify themselves to the world, Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering met (completely by chance)… at the library! [the University of Strasbourg in 1889]

Pleasantries out of the way, their discussion turned to pancreatic enzymes [as one does, of course.] Minkowski had just been busy in his dog lab testing out one of von Mering’s hypothesis… and, as they say, the rest is history.

To test von Mering’s assertion (considered impossible at the time) that the pancreas had something to do with the many people who developed diabetes, Minkowski had removed a dog’s pancreas to put to rest the argument once and for all. He found that the dog developed thirst and the creation of copious amounts of sugary urine (containing lots of glucose) just as do the human patients with diabetes.

To “ice the cake” (so to speak) the two eventually showed that hyperglycemia could be reversed by implanting a section of pancreas back under the skin—thus identifying the role of the pancreas in maintaining glucose homeostasis.

Why is that important? Because once the relationship was discovered, that meant others could know where to focus their efforts! And that led first to the development of methods of obtaining insulin for use in treatment, and then expanding to a commercial scale which these days means even synthesizing human insulin.

[These are the “Accidental Medical Discoveries” that I had intended to include in this article; but, I can now think of at least four others that at least need mention.]

George Papanicolaou

Discovery and Contribution: PAP Smear; Discovered uterine cancer cells
Dr. George Papanicolaou found that it was possible to track the sex cycle of animals by microscopically examining smears of cells from their vaginas at various points in their cycle—a great boon to veterinarians and zoos.

Then he wondered if it could be done in humans too—it could, and a fortuitous accident gave him a sample from a woman with cervical cancer which, in the 40s, was the number one killer of women. He observed the cancer easily and eventually developed and promoted the “pap” test which revolutionized OB/GYN care everywhere for every woman.

Wilson Greatbatch

Discovery and Contribution: Invented theHeart Pacemaker;
Wilson Greatbatch probably could have killed something (or someone) but didn’t when he made a mistake and put the wrong part in a machine he was developing to RECORD the heart rhythm. The Chronic Disease Research Institute wanted an implantable device to record the firing of the heart.

Instead, Greatbatch’s mistake made the machine actually produce an intermittent electrical pulse (a stepped down version of a spark) not record it! Fortuitously, he was able to associate the pulses with a human heartbeat and a “pacemaker” was born. (Whew!)

Guinter Kahn & Paul Grant

Discovery and Contribution: Rogaine;
In what can only be described as “nuts” (or stupid, whichever you prefer) Guinter Kahn and Paul Grant read about a woman taking the blood pressure medicine minoxidil who grew hair in places you wouldn’t expect and decided to try it on themselves!

When rubbing it on their arms did produce a bit of hair growth they took their finding to the Upjohn Company who made the drug, expecting of course some kind of reward or at least a pat on the back. Instead they got reported to the government for unauthorized tests on human subjects and gazumped by Upjohn filing a patent for use behind their backs. Eventually Upjohn did give them a small royalty but probably didn’t need to.

Eric Jacobsen & Jens Hald

Discovery and Contribution: Discovered Antabuse; Alcohol Treatment Medicine
Schoolmates Eric Jacobsen and Jens Hald at the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy were experimenting with disulfiram as a way to deal with parasitic stomach infections. Of course they just had to try out the compound on themselves—one assumes to counteract all the parasites they swallowed too, right?

Then, as one would expect from the story so far, they went for their usual drinks at a friends house and got explosively and gravely ill—they had just invented “Antabuse”; which, we’ve learned, prevents the liver from processing alcohol. The terrible threat of the Antabuse side-effects is a way to “scare” the drinking right out of alcoholic patients. All they have to do is try it once.