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University Daily Kansan Friday, April 17, 1964
His Invention Solved Skin Grafting Problem
By Charles Corcoran
I owe the use of my left leg to a retired KU professor.
If it were not for the creative genius of Professor Emeritus George Hood, 86, of the School of Engineering, a third degree burn I received several years ago would certainly have cost me my left leg, or at least the ability to use it.
Early in the 1930's, the late Dr. Earl C. Padgett, then a professor of clinical surgery at the KU School of Medicine in Kansas City, approached Dean George C. Shaad of the School of Engineering with a request that he recommend someone to undertake the invention of an instrument that would cut uniform skin grafts.
UP TO THAT time, skin grafts were not unknown, but the operation of removing a layer of healthy skin to replace that which had been damaged had to be done free hand. Surgeons had no instruments to aid them in the slicing of a regularly shaped piece of skin of desired thickness.
The accuracy of early grafting work was solely dependent on the surgeon's skill.
The design problem was laid before Bood, then a professor of engineering drawing here. After years of experimentation and development, Prof. Hood was able to remove the letters from a sheepskin diploma with a machine he called the Dermatome.
His machine, created in the basement of his home, could slice a
section of skin from .005 to .02 inches thick. The first Dermatome blades were made from sharpened hacksaw blades: they now are produced by a razor blade company.
THE DERMATOME WAS first used on a human being in an operation in 1938 at the Bell hospital in Kansas City, Mo.
Prof. Hood was present at that operation and when the surgeon shook his head indicating that he was afraid to cut the skin to be grafted. Hood took over and cut the first calibrated skin graft.
The operation was a success!
In 1942, Prof. Hood was granted the patent on the Dermatome. An interference case was decided in his favor.
THE MACHINE is phenomenally simple in appearance: it has one moving part. the cutting apparatus.
The machine consists of a curved, aluminum casting with a razor edged blade attached in such a way that the distance between the curved face and blade can be closely adjusted.
Before an operation, the curved face and the patient's skin which is to be removed are coated with a special rubber cement developed by Prof. Hood. The curved surface is rolled on the patient's body and the cement-coated skin adheres to the curved surface and is lifted gently away from the body.
As the skin is pulled up, the razor-sharp blade, which is preset to the desired thickness, easily slices off a transparent layer of
skin of uniform thickness and area. The size of the skin removed depends upon the size of the coated area.
LEG-SAVING MACHINE--George Hood, professor emeritus of engineering, examines the Dermatome device he invented for more effective skin grafts. (Photo by Charles Corcoran)
THE REMOVED LAYER of skin is then either sutured to the area to be covered or put into a salt solution until it is to be used. The area the skin is removed from heals in about ten days. Thirty days later more skin can be cut from the same area if necessary.
Innumerable limbs and torsos were saved and repaired in World
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War II because of the Dermatome where before they might have been amputated. The Jan. 9, 1943 KU Newsletter states that the machine saved soldiers "from being disfigured or crippled for life. The Army and Navy have ordered hundreds for use in the various hospitals."
To date, more than 10,000 of these Dermatomes have been made and sold. About 4,000 of a motorized version, which looks something like a large bladed barber's hair clipper, have also been manufactured and sold.
The K-Book is a combination of general information about KU and a calendar of University events.
Prof. Hood has also made a small, circular Dermatome which does not have its own cutting edge and, in 1953, a "giant" Dermatome which cuts a 15 by 8 inch graft.
making possible surgical treatment of severe burns and other denuding injuries."
Prof. Hood also has been named an American Man of Science, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award of the American Society for Engineering Education and is in "Who's Who In Engineering."
IN APRIL OF 1955. Prof. Hood was awarded the Holley Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for his invention. The citation accompanying the award reads "For his act of genius in inventing the Dermatome, a skin grafting machine,
His other inventions include types of gas engines, a gas explosive pump, drawing instruments and a photographic method for producing perspective layouts from aircraft sections.
He has also written textbooks on engineering drawing which he considers to be the "language of the engineer."
Prof. Hood was born in Chicago in 1877 and he entered KU in 1898. He is one of the last surviving members of the twelve founders of the Alpha Tau Omega social fraternity here.
He taught engineering drawing at KU from the time of his graduation in 1902 with a B.S. degree until his retirement in 1947.
WHO SAID THE SENIORS DON'T FUNCTION!
To keep the party spirit of the Senior Class tied over from the party-meet on the Lawrence Drag Strip, Saturday April 18,the Seniors are going to have . yes. THE GREAT TRAIN RIDE
6:30—cars meet in Zone O
7:00----buses will take seniors and guests from Zone O to the train.
7-11 THE GREAT TRAIN RIDE. Buses will be waiting to return students to cars.
TRAIN HOLDS
LIMITED NUMBER FIRST COME,FIRST SERVED
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DANCING IN BAGGAGE CARS SWINGING BANDS FAVORITE BEVERAGES
COST: $5. per ticket.Tickets will be sold over the weekend in the living groups and MONDAY, TUESDAY, and WEDNESDAY in the Information Booth.
SAT., MAY 2,1964