GREAT SURGICAL FEAT

Hokitika Guardian, 20 June 1925, Page 4

GREAT SURGICAL FEAT

AT SYDNEY HOSPITAL. SYDNEY. .)inio o. An account of every unusual surgieal operation that is performed (lues not see its tvav into print. .Mo-si surgeons are content to do their work without publicity, and for those who arc not, a benevolent despot of an Association —the JEM.A—enforces modesty in the name of professional ethics. But occa.ssionally news leaks out ol a marvellous operation, and though the name of its performer might he Missing, the description of the surgeon s feat is suflicient to set the average' laymen wondering to what heights of human ingenuity modern surgery is heading. One Mich operation was perionnei. at the Koval Prince Alfred Hospital last week. Part of a young woman ? chest was laid hack, exposing tlu> heart and lung, and a hydatid cyst, which had been pressing on Use hack of the heart and restricting the patient's breathing, was removed. It was an achievement which brought additional proof of the fact that s;-:i 1 1 . i. | feats in surgery can he performed as successfully in Australia as in those of any other country in the world: ami il proved also that ihe pr..le."i-u! in Australia is keeping pm- with advamemeiii in modern surgery. The patient was a city waitress, ol years of age. At first it was thought that she was sullering from a iorr.i ol tuberculosis, hut an N-ray examination revealed the cyst at the. bark of the hearl. and a series ol blood tests proved it to lie hydatie. It was impossible to tell from the shadow on I lie X-ray plate whether the cyst wr. ■ , attached to the heart or iiot. A H>e<ial anaeMbelie was intlvalue d by means <l' a lul.c in the throat. | through which it was blown at a >,tUnite pressure into the lungs, and the '. surgeon was able to determine by his . observations during tl«o operation any regulation of the itnnc.st.hui ic that was necessary. The lung was allowed j- tl) collapse. and a section of the chest. I including ribs. Ilcsh, and inns h- . >• laid hack, exposing the heart, and ]„ng. This was uecssar.v mi that, m s the event of a haemorrliagc o- eiirnug. |he surgeon eould net suddenly and .. faeel.v la cheek it. The cyst was . found to he lurmed on the diaphragm. hut its pressure was exerted npuaids ’ on to the hack of the heart. An inf (ision was made in the cyst. winch <, was 1 lieu partly drained, and the siirf geon. exploring th- sac in which it , had !-. all found, could feel right rounn s j ]:;> of Hie l.ciirl. 'lid.' -r-.-t plae, d lo nrain tue e . s,. . ! , s-ei mil .-I Ihe «!--t was earn! idly •-■- v placed and slit. lied. 'lbis opera. ■".» ~ wa - pel formed on Tuesday "I kis! ‘ v , ( ~'c. 'A. week later the patient si-nt-t. ,-d that, she was quite free from I’-'- 1 ' 1 - and now she was making goad progross towards ri'cuviM’V.