CLASSIC ARTICLE - THE MANAGEMENT OF AN ILEOSTOMY INCLUDING ITS COMPLICATIONS (REPRINTED FROM LANCET, VOL 2, PG 102-4, 1952)

Bryan Brooke graduated from Cambridge and St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1940, achieving his F.R.C.S. in 1942 and his Masters in Surgery in 1944. After military service in the second world war, he was appointed senior lecturer in Aberdeen in 1946 and reader in surgery at the University of Birmingham in 1947. In 1963, he was offered the Chair in Surgery at St. George's Hospital in London, a position he occupied until 1976. Many of Brooke's important writings were in the field of colon and rectal surgery, including that of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. In 1952, he proposed a signal advance in ileostomy construction, the subject for this Classic Article reproduction. In this paper, he suggested, ''A more simple device is to evaginate the ileal end at the time of operation and [to] suture the mucosa to the skin. . . .'' As a consequence of his unique contributions to the development of improved surgical techniques for stomal construction, he was motivated to become founder and president of the Ileostomy Association of Great Britain and Ireland, a post he held for 26 years. A recipient of many awards, Brooke was recognized by Corpus Christi College of Cambridge University through the Copeman Medal for scientific research. Additionally, he received the A.B. Graham Award of the American Proctologic Society (now the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons) in 1961 and is an honorary fellow of many international organizations. Brooke has been described as an individual with a great zest for life, coupled with a wonderful sense of humor. He has held numerous one-man exhibitions of his paintings, many of which can be found at prominent public institutions throughout the world. Professor Brooke resides in London, retired from the active practice of surgery, but not from painting or from writing.