Arthur Sidney Blundell Bankart

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...

(1879–1951) was a British

orthopaedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

best known for describing the

Bankart lesion A Bankart lesion is a type of shoulder injury that occurs following a dislocated shoulder. It is an injury of the anterior ( inferior) glenoid labrum of the shoulder. When this happens, a pocket at the front of the glenoid forms that allows th ...

and Bankart repair for

shoulder dislocation A dislocated shoulder is a condition in which the head of the humerus is detached from the shoulder joint. Symptoms include shoulder pain and instability. Complications may include a Bankart lesion, Hill-Sachs lesion, rotator cuff tear, or inj ...

Biography

Bankart was born in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, the son of

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

James Bankart. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, and

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

, qualifying in medicine in 1906. He became a

Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...

in 1909, and

Master of Surgery The Master of Surgery (Latin: Magister Chirurgiae) is an advanced qualification in surgery. Depending upon the degree, it may be abbreviated ChM, MCh, MChir or MS. At a typical medical school the program lasts between two and three years. The p ...

in 1910.Seyed Behrooz Mostofi. ''Who's Who in Orthopedics'' pp. 20-22. Springer, 2005. In 1909 he became the first surgical registrar at the newly established

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) is a specialist orthopaedic hospital located in the London Borough of Harrow, United Kingdom, and a part of Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust. It provides the most comprehensive range of ...

. In 1911 he was also appointed surgeon to the Maida Vale Hospital for nervous diseases, the

Belgrave Hospital for Children The Belgrave Hospital for Children in Kennington, London, United Kingdom was a voluntary hospital founded in Pimlico, London in 1866. A new hospital building was constructed between 1899 and 1926 at 1 Clapham Road#London, Clapham Road from a desi ...

and the Queen's Hospital for Children, all in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Consequently, at that time he was practising

orthopaedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

and

paediatric surgery Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. History Pediatric surgery arose in the middle of the 1879 century as the surgical care of birth defects requ ...

at four different hospitals. He also worked with Robert Jones at the Shepherds Bush Military Orthopaedic Centre during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Arthur Bankart at Who Named It
/ref> He performed most of the

at the Maida Vale Hospital, particularly spinal surgery, until his departure in 1933. He was subsequently appointed

to the

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

, and also performed many of the neurosurgical operations carried out there. He was one of the first surgeons in the United Kingdom to perform lateral

cordotomy Cordotomy (or chordotomy) is a surgical procedure that disables selected pain-conducting tracts in the spinal cord, in order to achieve loss of pain and temperature perception. This procedure is commonly performed on patients experiencing severe ...

for pain relief. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he worked at

Mount Vernon Hospital Mount Vernon Hospital is located in Northwood, an area of north-west Greater London. It is one of two hospitals run by The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was founded as The North London Hospital for Cons ...

. He retired in 1944, but continued working until his death on 8 April 1951, after a full day of operating at Mount Vernon Hospital.

Legacy

Bankart is remembered for developing a precise and fast surgical technique after studying under Arbuthnot-Lane. He would tell his students that during his time at the

he would discharge the old patients when the senior surgeons went on summer holiday, and would then admit new patients on whom he would operate. Bankart described the

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

and surgical repair of recurrent

in 1923, and again in 1938. Although this procedure was described by Perthes in 1906,Perthes G. ''Über Operationen bei habitueller Schulterluxation.'' Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie, Leipzig, 1906, 85: 199-227 Bankart is credited with popularizing the technique. Thus the terms

and Bankart Operation remain in use.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bankart, Arthur British orthopaedic surgeons 1879 births 1951 deaths English surgeons English anatomists Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons People educated at Rugby School