Mihran Kassabian

Mihran Krikor Kassabian (August 25, 1870 – July 14, 1910)[nb 1] was an Armenian-American radiologist and one of the early investigators into the medical uses of X-rays. His contributions to radiology included the introduction of a positioning device that accurately displayed the round nature of the ribs on an X-ray image. He served as vice president of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS).

Mihran Krikor Kassabian
Kassabian in 1909
BornAugust 25, 1870
Kayseri, Ottoman Empire
DiedJuly 14, 1910(1910-07-14) (aged 39)
Philadelphia, United States
NationalityArmenian
CitizenshipAmerican
OccupationRadiologist
Years active1898–1910
Medical career
InstitutionsPhiladelphia General Hospital
Sub-specialtiesRadiology

Kassabian's first published paper was related to the side effects of radiation, and because of his frequent exposure to high doses of radiation, Kassabian himself was a victim of these effects. He sustained burns to his hand, had two fingers amputated, and developed a lethal case of skin cancer in his thirties.

Early life

Kassabian was born in Kayseri in the Cappadocia region of Asia Minor. He attended the American Missionary Institute there. He went to London to study theology and medicine with the initial goal of becoming a missionary.[3] In London, he also developed a personal interest in photography. He moved to the United States and entered the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia. After taking a hiatus from his studies to serve in the Spanish–American War, Kassabian returned to Philadelphia and completed medical school.[4]

Career

After graduating from medical school, Kassabian worked as an instructor at the Medico-Chirurgical College. In 1902, he resigned from that position and took over as director of the Roentgen Ray Laboratory at Philadelphia General Hospital.[5][6] Under Kassabian's predecessor, George E. Pfahler, the two-year-old X-ray laboratory at Philadelphia General had recently made the second-ever X-ray diagnosis of a brain tumor.[7] Combining his interests in electrotherapy, photography and the use of X-rays, Kassabian was able to establish radiology as a clinical entity worthy of its own department.[8] He served as a delegate of the American Medical Association at international conferences, and he was a vice president of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS).[3]

Kassabian invented a positioning device for chest X-rays that showed the body's rotundity; previously, X-ray images had rendered the ribs as flat. He wrote a textbook, Electro-therapeutics and Roentgen Rays, which was widely employed in American medical schools.[9] Kassabian studied the feasibility of imaging infants' hearts with X-rays and a contrast agent, bismuth subnitrate. He reported on this work in 1907, but due to the difficulty of controlling contrast agents and the rapid beating of the heart, his procedure did not become a standard medical practice.[10]

As an expert witness in court, Kassabian worked to establish the value of X-rays in the American legal system.[3] He was chair of the medicolegal committee of the ARRS, and he believed that X-rays could help to elucidate medical findings for judges and juries. He hoped that the incidence of frivolous lawsuits could be decreased if X-rays were used to objectively characterize the nature of a potential plaintiff's injuries.[11]

Personal life

In 1907, Kassabian served on the search committee that appointed the first pastor of the Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church.[12] The next year, he married Virginia Giragosian from Constantinople. He had three brothers; they were jewelers in Smyrna.[2]

Kassabian's hands in 1909

Kassabian's clinical work included the acquisition of fluoroscopic images. This work predated the routine use of X-ray plates to take static images, and it required Kassabian to be routinely exposed to high doses of radiation.[13] The doctor first noted reddened areas of skin on his hands in 1900. At first he felt that the issue might be related to the use of metol in developing X-rays, but he realized that the problem persisted even when he handled metol with rubber gloves.[4]

Kassabian's first published paper dealt with the irritant effects of X-rays. In that paper, he mentioned the evolution of the issues with his hands. Though Kassabian realized that the X-ray exposure had caused the problem, he argued against the use of the word burns to describe radiation injuries because he thought that this wording might alarm the public and stall the progress that was being made in radiology.[4]

In 1902, Kassabian sustained a serious radiation burn to his hand. Six years later, necrosis had set in and two of the fingers on his left hand were amputated.[14] Kassabian kept a journal and took photographs of his hands as his tissue injuries progressed.[15]

Kassabian was later diagnosed with skin cancer related to the radiation injuries.[14] He continued to work with vigor during his illness; he did not want his patients to know that he had been made ill by radiation exposure.[14] The cancer spread up Kassabian's arm.[13] Kassabian's physicians, who included Philadelphia surgeon William Williams Keen, performed surgery.[9]

Death

In the spring of 1910, Kassabian had another cancer-related surgery, this time to remove muscle from his chest. On July 12, 1910, The New York Times reported that the physician was seriously ill and hospitalized at Jefferson Hospital.[16] He died two days later. Shortly before Kassabian's death, the J. B. Lippincott Company announced that it would publish a second edition of his textbook.[13]

Notes
  1. Some sources list Kassabian's birth year as 1868 or describe him as 42 years old at the time of his death.[1][2]
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References
  1. "Obituary". Electrical World. 56 (3). McGraw-Hill. 1 January 1910. p. 186. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  2. "Obituary". Southern Practitioner. 32: 406–408. 1910. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  3. Kelly, Howard Atwood (1920). A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography: Comprising the Lives of Eminent Deceased Physicians and Surgeons from 1610 to 1910. W.B. Saunders Company. p. 647. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  4. Brown, Percy (1995). "American martyrs to radiology: Mihran Krikor Kassabian (1870–1910)". American Journal of Roentgenology. 164 (5): 1285–1289. doi:10.2214/ajr.164.5.7717249. PMID 7717249.
  5. Rajasekaran, G. (July 23, 1910). "Obituary Notes". Medical Record. W. Wood. 51 (1–2): 160. Bibcode:1998Prama..51....1R. doi:10.1007/BF02827474. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  6. "Obituary: Mihran K. Kassabian, M.D., of Philadelphia". New York Medical Journal. A. R. Elliot. 92: 180. 1 January 1910. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  7. Mills, Charles Karsner (1908). The Philadelphia Almshouse and the Philadelphia Hospital: From 1854 to 1908. p. 40. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  8. Meggitt, Geoff (2008). Taming the Rays. Lulu.com. p. 15. ISBN 9781409246671. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  9. Hughes, Charles Hamilton (January 1, 1910). "Dr. Kassabian: Martyr". Alienist and Neurologist: A Quarterly Journal of Scientific, Clinical and Forensic Psychiatry and Neurology: 613–614. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  10. Kevles, Bettyann (1998). Naked to the Bone: Medical Imaging in the Twentieth Century. Basic Books. p. 106. ISBN 020132833X. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  11. Golan, Tal (September 1, 2004). "The emergence of the silent witness: The legal and medical reception of X-rays in the USA". Social Studies of Science. 34 (4): 484. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.126.4800. doi:10.1177/0306312704045705. PMID 15586448.
  12. Commemorative Booklet: 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church (PDF). Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church. 2007. p. 14. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  13. "Death of Dr. Kassabian". The Medical Brief. 38: 489–490. August 1910. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  14. Reeve, Arthur B. (1910). "Martyrs of science". The Technical World Magazine (14). p. 295. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  15. Forshier, Steve (2012). Essentials of Radiation, Biology and Protection. Cengage Learning. p. 7. ISBN 978-1428312173. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  16. "Dying of X-ray burns; Dr. Kassabian, X-ray operator, lies ill In Philadelphia hospital" (PDF). The New York Times. July 12, 1910. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
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