Acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma) patients have greatly benefited from technical advances in neurosurgery. In fact, the evolution of acoustic neuroma surgery is a microcosm of the development of neurosurgery overall. This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download PDF” on top to view the full article.

The name “Orthopaedic Surgery” is derived from the words “orthos” (meaning straight or to straighten) and “paido” (meaning child). Thus, it is not unexpected that paediatric orthopaedics was the first discipline within Orthopaedics to develop as a subspecialty. This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download...

In our quest to pursue knowledge regarding a patient’s illness or seek a cure for the disease, as doctors we have to derive the necessary answers through physical examination of the patient and investigations either at the bedside or the laboratory. We engage in research activities into the patient’s...

A record of Diagnostic Radiology would be incomplete without reference to Wilheim Roentgen, who discovered the rays that he could not comprehend; hence, X-rays. The day was Friday, 8 November 1895, as he worked on cathode ray tubes at the University of Wurzburg, Germany. These rays penetrated opaque substances,...

In looking at the history of orthopaedic education in Singapore, one must place our local setting in the worldwide perspective. Officially, the academic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Singapore (in what was then the University of Malaya, now the National University of Singapore) was only set up in 1952,...

The Straits and Federated Malay States Government Medical School was founded in 1905. Dr Chen Su Lan, 1 of the 7 graduates in the first class to qualify in March 1910, reminisced in 1965 on his training experiences: “Among the ‘killer’ diseases were malaria (there were 20 deaths a...

Physiology is the study of normal function in the body and how genes, proteins, organ systems interact to maintain health. It provides a foundation for the health sciences profession and life science research. Physiology education in Singapore dates back to 3 July 1905, when the Federated Malay States Government...

Vertigo has been said to be the greatest “heartsink” symptom in medicine. That certainly is a possibility but every specialty has its similar conditions, and vertigo is no worse than low back ache or nocturnal cramps. However, the main reason for this problem is not the symptom but the...

Tropical countries such as Singapore, although without well-defined influenza seasons, are also affected by influenza epidemics and pandemics. Twenty per cent of Singapore’s population is clinically infected by seasonal influenza annually, and excess mortality over the past decade was about 14.8 per 100,000 person-years – comparable to temperate United...

The core of the Family Medicine (FM) vision is patient-centred care, requiring specific education and vocational training. Modern day FM began its existence as a “counterculture” to the disease-and-body-part focus of the hospital specialties in the 1960s. This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download PDF”...

The Inaugural Meeting of the Chapter of Psychiatrists and Chapter of Pathologists, Academy of Medicine, was held on 5 December 1986 at King’s Hotel.1,2 At that time the Academy already had 7 Chapters in her fold. The Chairman, Dr Lawrence Chan (then Master of the Academy of Medicine) remarked...

A history of the Chapter of Pathologists would be incomplete without a history of the specialty of Pathology in Singapore. Pathology is in fact the first specialty practiced in Singapore. This was due to the seriousness of the public health situation and infections like water borne diseases in Singapore...

The idea of having an Academy of Medicine in Singapore was first proposed by some 20 medical specialists on 19 July 1957 and was named then as “Academy of Physicians & Surgeons”. It was officially formed by 34 founding members (comprising Dental Surgeons, Physicians and Surgeons) and was renamed...

The transformation of the previous Chapter of Physicians, Academy of Medicine, Singapore to the current College of Physicians, Singapore in 2004 was the outcome of a steady progress in and a natural evolution of medical specialty development in Singapore. Just like the Academy which was established in 1957 as...

Paediatrics is among one of the earliest specialties to develop in Singapore and its early development has been documented on various occasions.1-4 At the end of the 1980s, there were some 100 practising paediatricians who were trained either locally or overseas. They formed the core group of paediatric specialists...

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) has been referred to as a medically unexplained syndrome;1,2 a rheumatological entity described in rheumatology textbooks and taught to all training rheumatologists,3 and lately with newer development in research particularly in neurophysiology, as a central sensitivity syndrome.4 Due to its lack of objective findings on physical...

Man’s innate curiosity to study the internal organs of the human body dates back to the time of Hippocrates where basic speculums were invented to peer into the buccal cavity and vagina. The first instruments used to intubate the oesophagus and stomach in the 16th and 17th centuries were...