NEW ANAESTHETIC

Hokitika Guardian, 17 July 1929, Page 5

NEW ANAESTHETIC

MEDICAL DISCOVERY,

OPERATION TESTS

LONDON, May 31

Great improvements, in the administration of anaesthetics are likely to result from the discovery of Dr. Miguel Garcia Marin, of Mexico City, in collaboration with Dr. Raoul Ortiz, a surgeon. It consists in the intravenous administration of pure ethyl alooliol in solution, or in combination with a glucose solution.

Two operations were performed yesterday by the new method with complete isuccess at a London hospital, this being the first occasion it has been employed in Europe, |. i ; Tlie first operation was-on a woman patient’s toe, - and the second was the excision of a cancer on the lip of a man.' Both patients woke up after the, operation perfectly fresh and suffered no after ill-effects. V. A member of the medical staff who was present informed as,r?prese,ntatiye of the “ Daily Teiegrapn,” after ; the operations, that he considered there were distinct advantages to be derived from the administration of the ,anesthetic by theabdye;.method.. • “It is,” he said, “ practically safe, and in cases of operation on the face especially it leaves a free field to the surgeon; .that is to say, it dispenses with all apparatus on the face or mouth, such as masks or tubes, which might hamper the operator. BETTER FOR PATIENT.

'“Further, it "does away .with the risk of fire, which there might be when using the diathermy apparatus or the actual cautery, where inflammable anaesthetics, such as ether, cannot be employed. Under this method the length of the operation is not materially affected, but the great advantage, from the patient’s point of view, is that he goes to sleep quite naturally and peacefully, and wakes up in a fresh condition, and suffers no discomfort or sickness as a direct result of the anaesthetic. “It is. claimed that alcohol, as such, is less tonic. than most other, anaesthetics at present in use. For this reason alone there may be a great future in store for it. Tneie are very few cases in which the use of this anaesthetic would not be suitable.”

The doctor added that they contemplated making further use of the new method at the hospital in the immediate future. Dr Marin and Dr Ortiz were present at the operations, and were congratulated by members of the Mexican Legation on their success. Dr Marin held a commission as lieut.-colonel in the Mexican Army, and is now attached to the military hospital in Mexico. He and Dr Oitiz have been experimenting with the intravenous injection method for ever, live years. Tests were carried out first on some hundreds of animals, and the use of the anaesthetic was then introduced into the Mexico City hospitals, where about 300 operations have now been performed under its influence.