Wade-Dahl-Till valve
The Wade-Dahl-Till (WDT) valve is a cerebral shunt developed in 1962 by hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade, author Roald Dahl, and neurosurgeon Kenneth Till.[1][2]
In 1960, Dahl's son Theo developed hydrocephalus after being struck by a taxicab. A standard Holter shunt was installed to drain excess fluid from his brain. However, the shunt jammed too often, causing pain and blindness, risking brain damage and requiring emergency surgery.[1] Till, a neurosurgeon at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, determined that debris accumulated in the hydrocephalic ventricles could clog the slits in the Holter valves, especially with patients such as Theo who had bad bleeding in the brain and brain damage.
Dahl knew Wade to be an expert in precision hydraulic engineering, from their shared hobby of flying model aircraft. (In addition to building his own model aircraft engines, Wade ran a factory at High Wycombe for producing precision hydraulic pumps.)[3] With Dahl coordinating the efforts of the neurosurgeon and the hydraulic engineer, the team developed a new mechanism using two metal discs, each in a restrictive housing at the end of a short silicone rubber tube. Fluid moving under pressure from below pushed the discs against the tube to prevent retrograde flow; pressure from above moved each disc to the "open" position.[2] As Till reported in The Lancet, the invention was characterized by “low resistance, ease of sterilisation, no reflux, robust construction, and negligible risk of blockage”.[4]
By the time the device was perfected, Theo had healed to the point at which it was no longer necessary to implant the shunt in his skull. However, several thousand other children around the world benefited from the WDT valve before medical technology progressed beyond it.[1][5] The co-inventors agreed never to accept any profit from the invention.
References
- ^ a b c "Roald Dahl on the death of his daughter". No. 3 February 2015. The Telegraph.
- ^ a b GB patent 1010067, Wade, Stanley Charles, "Hydrocephalus shunt pump", issued 17 November 1965
- ^ Barry Farrell (1969). Pat and Roald. Kingsport Press.
- ^ Dr Andrew Larner. "Tales of the Unexpected: Roald Dahl's Neurological Contributions" (PDF). Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2018.
- ^ Stephen Michael Shearer (2006). Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2391-2.
External links
- US patent 3233610, "Hydrocephalus shunt pump", issued 1966-02-08
- v
- t
- e
- The Gremlins (1943)
- James and the Giant Peach (1961)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
- The Magic Finger (1966)
- Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
- Danny, the Champion of the World (1975)
- The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
- The Twits (1980)
- George's Marvellous Medicine (1981)
- The BFG (1982)
- The Witches (1983)
- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (1985)
- Matilda (1988)
- Esio Trot (1990)
- The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (1991)
- The Minpins (1991)
- Revolting Rhymes (1982)
- Dirty Beasts (1983)
- Rhyme Stew (1989)
- Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen (1948)
- My Uncle Oswald (1979)
collections
- Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946)
- Someone Like You (1953)
- Kiss Kiss (1960)
- Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl (1969)
- Switch Bitch (1974)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (1977)
- The Best of Roald Dahl (1978)
- Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
- More Tales of the Unexpected (1980)
- The Roald Dahl Omnibus (1986)
- Two Fables (1986)
- Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl (1989)
- The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl (1991)
- The Roald Dahl Treasury (1997)
- The Great Automatic Grammatizator (1998)
- Skin and Other Stories (2000)
- Roald Dahl: Collected Stories (2006)
- The Mildenhall Treasure (1946)
- Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)
- Going Solo (1986)
- Measles: A Dangerous Illness (1986)
- Memories with Food at Gipsy House (1991)
- Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety (1991)
- My Year (1993)
- 36 Hours (1964)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- Danny, the Champion of the World (1989)
- The BFG (1989)
- Breaking Point (1989)
- The Witches (1990)
- Four Rooms (1995)
- James and the Giant Peach (1996)
- Matilda (1996)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
- Roald Dahl's Esio Trot (2015)
- The BFG (2016)
- Revolting Rhymes (2016)
- Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2017)
- The Witches (2020)
- Matilda the Musical (2022)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)
- Wonka (2023)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2024)
- The Twits (2025)
- The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling (1966, unfinished)
- You Only Live Twice (1967)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
- The Night Digger (1971)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- The Honeys (1955)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998)
- Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka (2004)
- The Witches (2008)
- The Golden Ticket (2010)
- James and the Giant Peach (2010)
- Matilda (2010)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013)
- Fantastic Mr Fox (2016)
- The Witches (2023)
- Bibliography
- Short stories bibliography
- Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories (1983)
- Gipsy House
- Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre
- Roald Dahl Children's Gallery
- Patricia Neal (wife)
- Olivia Dahl (daughter)
- Tessa Dahl (daughter)
- Ophelia Dahl (daughter)
- Lucy Dahl (daughter)
- Sophie Dahl (granddaughter)
- Phoebe Dahl (granddaughter)
- Felicity Dahl (second wife)
- Quentin Blake
- Wade-Dahl-Till valve
- Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse (2020)
- To Olivia (2021)
- Revision controversy