Abstract
Hugh Spear Pemberton, born in Liverpool on June 3, 1890, was an English physician who is best known for his description of “Pemberton’s sign.” He worked as a staff physician for his entire career at the David Lewis Northern Hospital in Liverpool, England, until his mandatory retirement in 1955 at the age of 65. He was a dedicated clinician and a gifted teacher. In 1946, he described facial congestion, cyanosis, and respiratory distress that occurred in patients with a substernal goiter when their arms were elevated above their heads. He postulated that this was due to narrowing of the thoracic inlet and compression of the structures in the thoracic inlet. As a result of his contribution, it is recognized that due to the limited size of the superior thoracic aperture, goiters that extend into the mediastinum may cause significant compressive symptoms and resection through a cervical approach is recommended.
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Zhou, H., McHenry, C. (2015). Hugh Spear Pemberton. In: Pasieka, J., Lee, J. (eds) Surgical Endocrinopathies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13662-2_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13662-2_12
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