Amsterdam Oud-West , North Holland, Netherlands — Northwestern Europe
Ite Boerma
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, March 18, 2024
1. Ite Boerma Marker
Nederlands chirurg en, samen met zijn leerling W.H. Brummelkamp, grondlegger van de hyperbare zuurstoftherapie. In een buisvormige operatiekamer de 'tank van Boerema', werden operaties onder een atmosfeer van overdruk aan zuurstof uitgevoerd o.a. ten behoeve van hartoperaties en later ook andere doeleinden. Toen het 'WG' verhuisde naar het Academisch Medisch Centrum is deze tank meegegaan en wordt daar nog altijd gebruikt.
Dutch surgeon and, together with his student W.H. Brummelkamp, founder of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In a tubular operating room, the 'Boerema tank', operations were carried out under an atmosphere of overpressure oxygen, including for heart operations and later for other purposes. When the 'WG' (Wilhelmina Hospital) moved to the Academic Medical Center, this tank came with it and is still used there.
Erected by Geef Straten Een Gezicht.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Science & Medicine
this page online
Location. 52° 21.736′ N, 4° 52.134′ E. Marker is in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland (North Holland). It is in Amsterdam Oud-West. Marker is on Ite Boeremastraat, on the left when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Ite Boeremastraat 125, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland 1054 DS, Netherlands. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Jeltje de Bosch Kemper (within shouting distance of this marker); Koningin Wilhelmina / Queen Wilhelmina (about 120 meters away, measured in a direct line); Arie Biemond (about 150 meters away); Kanaalstraat / Canal Street (about 150 meters away); Marius van Bouwdijk Bastiaanse (about 180 meters away); Gerard Borst (about 210 meters away); Anna van den Vondel (about 210 meters away); WG-terrein (compound) (about 210 meters away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Amsterdam.
Also see . . . Therapeutics: Operating Under Pressure (Time, February 15, 1963).
Excerpt: …One of the first of the pressure pioneers, Amsterdam's Dr. Ite Boerema (pronounced Boor-uh-muh), did his earliest work with his smallest patients—"blue babies," whose red blood cells were being starved of oxygen.(Submitted on March 31, 2024.)Born with defects in the heart or its surround ing great vessels, such children are so frail that drastic surgery can kill them. The sooner they can have a corrective operation, the better. Dr. Boerema reasoned that if he could operate under double or triple atmospheric pressure and make the youngsters breathe pure oxygen through a mask, their red cells would pick up more oxygen and keep their fragile systems working better so that surgery would be safer.Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, June 18, 20232. Ite Boerma Marker - wide view
Two years ago, Dr. Boerema and his colleagues began operating on youngsters suffering from one of the commonest forms of blue-baby disorder—Pallet's tetralogy, a set of four serious heart defects which nearly always occur together. All the children were under five; they had only about 70% of normal oxygen in their red cells, and they were too ill to risk the heroic surgery that would correct all their heart defects. Dr. Boerema wanted to do a palliative operation, after which a final operation could await a few more years of growth and added strength.
Dr. Boerema ruled out the use of a heart-lung machine because that, too, seemed dangerously drastic. Instead, he operated in a chamber at triple atmospheric pressure. With the children breathing 100% oxygen, instead of air with its 20% oxygen, they were getting 15 times the normal supply. They turned pink at once. Dr. Boerema clamped off the great vessels around their hearts to shut off circulation. Unhurriedly, he made a connection between two arteries. Thanks to the oxygen drenching, the children showed no ill effects from the blood-flow shut down, and emerged from the operations with oxygen concentrations in their blood ranging from 92% to 96% of normal.
Credits. This page was last revised on March 31, 2024. It was originally submitted on March 31, 2024, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 33 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 31, 2024, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.
