The first operation to remove a brain tumor was performed by the nephew of the famous 19th century British surgeon Joseph Lister. On this date in 1884, neurosurgeon Rickman Godlee removed a 2-inch tumor from a patient's brain. The concept of brain tumor surgery was actually developed by another doctor, Hughes Bennett, who directed the procedure. Godlee used his uncle’s techniques involving asepsis, but the patient died of meningitis about a month after surgery. Although considerable progress has been made in operating on brain tumors, the risk of neurologic complications remains high.

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