Sir William Mitchell Banks (1 November 1842 – 9 August 1904) was a Scottish surgeon. He was an early advocate of what is now called the modified radical mastectomy.

Life

Banks was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the son of Ann Williamson and Peter Spalding Banks. He received his MD in 1864 at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He took up a post at the Infirmary School of Medicine,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, and was surgeon of the

Liverpool Royal Infirmary The Liverpool Royal Infirmary was a hospital in Pembroke Place in Liverpool, England. The building is now used by the University of Liverpool. History The infirmary has its origins in a small building on Shaw's Brow which was opened by the 11th ...

from 1877 to 1902, when he resigned and was appointed Consulting Surgeon. He died on 9 August 1904, while travelling, in

Aix-la-Chapelle Aachen is the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is located at the northern foothills of the High Fens and the Eifel Mountains. It sits on the Wurm Riv ...

. He is buried in

Toxteth Park Cemetery Toxteth Park Cemetery is a graveyard on Smithdown Road, Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was opened on Monday 9 June 1856. It was the responsibility of the Toxteth Park Burial Board, which had been established by at least 1855. The opening ceremon ...

Work

"Mitchell Banks deserves recognition both as a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and as an organizer. The modern operation for removal of the cancerous breast is largely due to his practice and advocacy. He recommended, in the face of strenuous opposition, an extensive operation that should include removal of the axillary glands when most surgeons were contented with local amputation. He drew attention to his method in 1878 and made it the topic of the Lettsomian Lectures at the Medical Society of London in 1900." Banks describes his operation in the following manner, "Now having cleared out the axilla forty-one times, I have naturally come to know something about the state of the glands; and the first point was recognized of the fact that, until we have these glands in our hand and have split them open with a knife, we cannot tell whether they are infected or not. The usual fumbling in the axilla which is practised by surgeons tells nothing. When the glands are a big as walnuts, any first year's student, can tell they are infected; but there is a stage -the earlier stage- when there are certainly affected, and yet to touch through layers of skin fat, nothing amiss, can be felt. As a result of this, I came to the conclusion, about three years ago, that in every case where the breast is removed, the axilla should be cleared out as a necessary accomplainment; and this I beg to urge upon the meeting, The one operation is useless without the other. As you cannot tell whether the glands are infected or not, remove them and dissipate the doubt."

Family

He was the father of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament and County Court judge Sir Reginald Mitchell Banks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, William Mitchell 1842 births 1904 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh Scottish surgeons Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Knights Bachelor