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Título

The History of Neurology in Pernambuco: a historiographical overview in Pernambuco newspapers

Resumo

Introduction: Neurology is a relatively recent specialty in Brazilian Medical History. Therefore, it is necessary to study the steps taken towards the status quo of this specialty. However, analyzing its entire history is a work that goes beyond its framework and for this study it was chosen to analyze the past and present of the Neurology in Pernambuco due to its relevance in the medical field
Objective: To make a general historical overview of the History of Neurology in Pernambuco.
Methods: A bibliographic survey was carried out with the files of the Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira of available digitalized Brazilian newspapers in the year 2020
Results: Analyzing the historical process of Neurology in Brazil means to understand, above all, the links between it and Psychiatry, like Charcot who described the current Multiple Sclerosis at the same time that he was interested in hysteria. As evidence, the first Brazilian book that broke the paradigmatic model of “Psychiatry of the brain” was published in 1878 (Lições sobre as moléstias do systema nervoso feitas na Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro). In a simple search in the records of newspapers in Pernambuco, the term “neurology” was first used on May 14, 1913, when a neurologist at the Hospital of Philadelphia showed Brazilian doctors a 6km extension of films about clinical cinematography, a practice that was not commonly applied in Brazil. The newspaper reports: “Certainly whoever sees them not only assists the phases of an etiology but also the development, the march of the morbid entity and can thus draw much more valuable conclusions [...]”. Neurology in Pernambuco was initially linked to Psychiatry. It became an independent specialty due to the influence of the chair of neurology at the Faculdade de Medicina - UFPE, with the outstanding participation of Jarbas Pernambucano. Later, with Manoel Caetano de Barros, Jarbas Pernambucano's successor, we have the expansion of the field of neurosurgery. Subsequently, the area of ​​Neuroradiology grew, with Glenystane Holanda.
Conclusion: The history of Neurology in Pernambuco had a long trajectory to become what it is today. Understanding the sequence of steps that have been taken up to the present day makes the neurologist beyond a mere external observer of the phenomena to become an actor and participant in the story, as the links of a chain which contribute to its steadiness

Palavras Chave

Neurology; History; Pernambuco; Overview; Newspapers;