ACCIDENTAL MEDICAL DISCOVERIES

 

Winston Churchill once said, “Men occasionally stumble across the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing has happened.” Within the scientific community, a certain stigma is attached to chance discovery because it is wrongly seen as pure luck. Happy accidents certainly happen every day, but it takes intelligence, insight, and creativity to recognize one. Eureka, I found what I wasn't looking for!” moment are surely rare but it is only an intelligent researcher who follows it to its logical conclusion.

 Medical history is replete with groundbreaking discoveries that have altered the way we perceive and treat illnesses. Many of these medical breakthroughs, curiously, were a result of chance rather than thorough design or rigorous experimentation, but they went on to change the direction of medicine forever. This blog explores the fascinating world of serendipity in medicine today, revealing six examples of unintentional medical discoveries that have saved lives, transformed treatments, and revolutionized healthcare. These discoveries demonstrate not only the unpredictable nature of scientific advancement, but also the necessity of being prepared to take advantage of unexpected opportunities in the pursuit of better health.

 

1. Penicillin

After a month-long Scottish vacation in 1928, pathologist Alexander Fleming returned to his laboratory at St. Mary's Hospital in London. To his surprise, a discarded culture dish he had left exposed on a window sill had become contaminated with an airborne mold. This mold, a type of fungus, had halted the growth of the harmful bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, adjacent to its blue-green strands. Fleming's accidental encounter led to the discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin. In recognition of this serendipitous find, he jointly received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945 with Florey and Chain, Oxford chemists who streamlined the mass production of penicillin, making it available for treating wartime injuries in World War II. Fleming would most candidly admit “When I woke up just after dawn on 28 September 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer, but I suppose that was exactly what I did.”

 

2. Cardiac pacemaker

The world's first implantable heart pacemaker was an accidental invention by New York engineer Wilson Greatbatch. In 1956, he aimed to develop a heartbeat monitoring device, but he mistakenly used an incorrect resistor in his prototype, resulting in the device generating consistent electrical pulses. As soon as Greatbatch recognized that his pulses resembled the electrical patterns of a normal heartbeat, he recognized the potential of his invention. After two years of refining his design, he successfully patented a pacemaker that could be implanted in the heart in 1960, and it soon entered full-scale production. Today, these life-saving devices, born from his initial invention, improve the lives of over half a million patients with slow heartbeats every year.

 

3. Warfarin

The blood-thinning substance, also known as an anticoagulant, was discovered in the 1930s by American biochemist Karl Paul Link when a Wisconsin farmer sought his expertise to investigate unexplained hemorrhages among his cattle. Upon examining the cattle's feed, Link identified the anticoagulant substance. Following that, he was able to isolate a chemical, now known as warfarin that could effectively treat people with blood clots. Remarkably, warfarin remains in use to this day.

 

4. Viagra

Pfizer's laboratories in Kent were the birthplace of one of the most famous accidental medical breakthroughs. Initially formulated as a remedy for angina, this treatment ended up becoming the world's most famous blue pill for erectile dysfunction: Viagra. Early clinical trials involving sildenafil, now known as Viagra, revealed a remarkable pattern: male volunteers frequently experienced prolonged and unanticipated erections. Further research found that Viagra, which was originally designed to relax cardiac blood vessels and enhance blood flow, had a similar impact on penile arteries. Since its launch in 1998, Viagra has revolutionized the intimate lives of countless men across the globe.

 

5. Potassium Bromide

Like most doctors of his time, Charles Lockock believed there was a cause-and-effect relationship between masturbation, seizures, and epilepsy. Bromides were known to suppress sexual drive. Lockock's motive was to control epilepsy, i.e., convulsions, by reducing the frequency of masturbation. The treatment was successful in terms of controlling the spasms. It also drew attention to the drug's sedative properties.

Potassium bromide and other inorganic bromide salts were widely used as anxiolytic sedatives and anticonvulsants during the second half of the 19th century. They were undoubtedly effective, although their relatively low therapeutic efficacy combined with high toxicity has practically banned their clinical use today.

 

6. Nitrous oxide

Laughing gas, also known as nitrous oxide, was first discovered in 1772 by Joseph Priestly, an English clergyman and scientist who was known for the isolation of gases such as oxygen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. Priestly discovered the gas by dissolving iron fillings in nitric acid, which revealed its anti-anxiety effects. It wasn't until the 1840s, however, that pioneering medical professionals and dentists began to investigate its potential as a sedative. During the interim, it was mostly used to improve mood during social gatherings and had a reputation as a recreational stimulant.

 

7. X-rays

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, a German physicist, discovered X-rays by accident in 1895. Roentgen was doing cathode ray (extremely energy electron) tests in a dark room when he noticed a fluorescent screen on the other side of the room blazing despite a barrier obstructing the cathode rays. He began looking into this unusual event after being intrigued by it. Roentgen initially thought that the fluorescence was caused by cathode rays, but after conducting multiple experiments and ruling out various possibilities, he determined that a new and unexplained type of radiation was being released. This radiation has the potential to travel through a variety of objects, including flesh and clothing, and expose photographic plates. The fact that these beams were invisible to human sight was particularly astounding. Roentgen named the discovery "X-rays" since the letter X represents something unknown. Upon publishing his findings, he shared them with the scientific community, sparking much interest and further research. By using them, it was possible to obtain non-invasive images of the inner structures of the human body, which led to the development of X-ray machines and the field of radiology. Roentgen's unintentional discovery of X-rays transformed medical diagnosis by allowing doctors to view into the human body without intrusive procedures. It was a fortuitous discovery that had a significant impact on science, technology, and healthcare.

 

8. Pap Smear

While George Nicholas Papanicolaou’s research would eventually be on human physiology, he began his studies with guinea pigs. In 1916, while studying sex chromosomes, he deduced that reproductive cycles in the experimental animals could be timed by examining smears of their vaginal secretions. From 1920, he began to focus on the cytopathology of the human reproductive system. He was thrilled when he was able to discern differences between the cytology of normal and malignant cervical cells upon a simple viewing of swabs smeared on microscopic slides. As part of his research, he collaborated with Dr Herbert Traut, a gynaecological pathologist, eventually publishing their landmark book in 1943, Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear.

 

Morton A. Meyers has written a book called ‘Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs’. It is an entertaining and accessible look at the role of serendipity in major medical and scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century explains how chance and lucky accidents led to the discovery of such medical advances. You can read it in Kindle.