In the last two centuries, medicine has been transformed by a number of major technological and organisational innovations. This edited collection examines the role of medical technologies in the history of medicine, of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools, prostheses and apparatus. The volume also discusses the social, cultural, political and economic contexts from which these medical technologies emerged, and, in turn, how technical innovations gave rise to new social constellations. A central purpose of the volume is to show what consequences new practices linked to the uptake of certain technologies had for the history of medicine more widely.

Eleven essays by historians and sociologists examine cancer research and treatment as everyday practice in post-war Europe and North America. These are not stories of inevitable medical progress and obstacles overcome, but of historical contingencies, cultural differences, hope, and often disappointed expectations.

This is the first comprehensive history of lung cancer, once considered a rare condition and today the leading cause of cancer deaths world-wide. We are used to associating cancer treatment with scientific progress, but a patient diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013 is no more likely to survive the disease for five or more years than a patient undergoing lung cancer surgery in the 1950s. A breakthrough has remained elusive for this condition, now firmly associated with the smoking of cigarettes. Drawing on many unpublished and little-used sources, this book tells the history of lung cancer, of doctors and patients, hopes and fears, expectations and frustrations over the past 200 years, as a rare chest affliction transformed into a major killer. Suggesting that lung cancer is not the only recalcitrant disease, Timmermann asks what happens when medical progress does not seem to make much difference.

The first comprehensive history of lung cancer from around 1800 to the present day; a story of doctors and patients, hopes and fears, expectations and frustrations. Where most histories of medicine focus on progress, Timmermann asks what happens when medical progress does not seem to make much difference.

In this volume, leading scholars in the history and sociology of medicine focus their attention on the material cultures of health care. They analyze how technology has become so central to medicine over the last two centuries and how we are coping with the consequences.

Eleven essays by historians and sociologists examine cancer research and treatment as everyday practice in post-war Europe and North America. These are not stories of inevitable medical progress and obstacles overcome, but of historical contingencies, cultural differences, hope, and often disappointed expectations.