October 22 – On This Day in Medical History

Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with October 22.

Events

1946 – Ralph Lee Huber (1889-1953) was granted a U.S. patent for a non-coring hypodermic needle point (the “Huber point”), designed to avoid “plug cutting” (coring a tissue disc) and to allow injection and aspiration without the lumen obstructing. Edward Boyce Tuohy (1908–1959) created his epidural catheter needle adopting a Huber-type curved, non-coring point with a side orifice which became eponymised as the “Tuohy needle,” contributing to longstanding misattribution.

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Births

No major medical milestones added for this date yet — this page is being expanded

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Deaths

1912 – Wilhelm Ebstein (1836-1912), Polish-German physician; described Ebstein anomoly (1866), and Pel-Ebstein fever (1885, 1887)

1915 – Theodor Langhans (1839-1915), German pathologist; described Langhans giant cells (1868) and the Layer of Langhans (1870)

1957– Otto Ullrich (1894-1957), German pediatrician; described Ullrich-Turner syndrome (1930), Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy (1930), Bonnevie-Ullrich syndrome (1932)

2003 – Dorothea Wilhelmine Barthel (1911-2003), American physical therapist; described the Barthel index (1965)

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Further reading

• Huber RL. Hypodermic needle. US patent 2 409 979. October 22, 1946