Harry J. Buncke

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'Harry J. Buncke', MD, is an American plastic surgeon who has been called "The Father of Microsurgery" for his contributions in the history and development of reconstructive microsurgical procedures. [1] He is a past president of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the International Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery, and the American Association of Plastic Surgery. He has served as a clinical professor of surgery at both Stanford University and the University of California - San Francisco. He is the author of 15 movies and television tapes, four surgical textbooks, and more than 400 peer-reviewed publications. [2]

Education

Dr. Buncke attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and earned his medical degree from the New York Medical College in 1951. [3]

Career

Buncke's work began in a laboratory which he set up in his garage, using instruments and sutures he developed. In 1964, he reported a rabbit ear replantation to the Plastic Surgery Research Council Meeting in Kansas City, Kansas.^[1] This was the first report of successfully using blood vessels 1 millimeter in size, an achievement previously thought to be technically impossible.

In 1966, Buncke and colleagues reported the transplantation of a monkey great toe to hand using microsurgery, a second landmark that ushered in an era where replantation of amputated digits and extremities would become widely performed.^[1]

With Dr. Donald McLean, Buncke performed the first successful microvascular transplant using omentum to fill a large scalp defect In 1969.^[1][4].

In 1970, Buncke founded the Buncke Clinic [5] at the Davies Medical Center in San Francisco, California. Surgeons at this clinic went on to accomplish many 'firsts', including a human toe-to-hand transplant^[1], scalp replantations^[1], serratus-combined-latissimus microvascular transplants, four-digit replantion and, in 1997, the replantation of a severed tongue.^[1]

Footnotes

External links

• Rudy Buntic, Darrell Brooks, Charles K. Lee, Greg Buncke, Harry Buncke (2006-02-26). Microsurgery History. www.microsurgeon.org. Retrieved on 2006-07-08. - website part written by this surgeon.
• CPMC.org - "Dr. Harry Buncke's reputation is legendary as the 'father of microsurgery.'" California Pacific Medical Center
• CPMC.org - 'Pioneering Microsurgery: Offering Hope to Trauma Victims, Harry J. Buncke, MD Gregory M. Buncke, MD', California Pacific Medical Center
• SFGate.com - 'Saving limbs is a family business at the Buncke Clinic', Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle (May 21, 2006