One Hundred Years of Electrosurgery in Neurosurgery: Commemorating the 1926 Collaboration of Cushing and Bovie

The year 2026 marks 100 years since Harvey Cushing and William T. Bovie performed the 1st neurosurgical procedure using electrosurgery for hemostasis, on October 1, 1926, at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, in Boston. Before that date, uncontrollable intraoperative hemorrhage was the central obstacle to safe brain tumor surgery, with mortality rates reaching 30 to 50%. Bovie, a plant physiologist turned biophysicist working at Harvard, had developed a generator capable of cutting and coagulating tissue through high-frequency alternating current. Cushing recognized its potential and incorporated the device into cranial surgery, jointly publishing the results with Bovie in 1928. This collaboration transformed neurosurgery by enabling resection of tumors previously beyond surgical reach. The subsequent development of bipolar coagulation extended these gains into microsurgery. The present article reviews the historical circumstances, the main protagonists, and the lasting influence of this landmark event on modern neurosurgical practice.