LATEST SURGERY

Hokitika Guardian, 26 July 1933, Page 8

LATEST SURGERY

recent discoveries

CHRISTCHURCH, July 25,

Remarkable advances made in surgery, from the days of the potion and the inca.nta.tion to the modern electric knife, and the use of avertin «s ®n ■anaesthetic, were deb died by Dr David N. Eppstein to a luncheon gathering of the Christchurch Business Men’s Club at the Frascati yesterday. “Tho very early doctors did. some amazing things,” said;the speaker. “They relied upon peculiar incantations Dc:d the administration of strange potions to effect cores. To-day surgery is an established science, having emerged completely from the dark period. ■Chloroform and ether were discovered 87-years ago and thus ore grave linrfrtion to surgery was removed, in sp'Je of considerable opposition from the chnrchrw. ‘However, anaesthesia was even mentioned in the Bible in one sense, for Adam was put sleep while a rib uvas removed from 'him 'for the creatiion of his partner, Eve

MAKING THE PATIENT DRUNK. “In the eady days surgeons had to make their patients very drum: and then work wtj.h the greatest speed. There were many grave difficulties to be overcome, and one of the worst was sepsis. The eai'ly-day surgeon, when about to perform an operation, donned an old coat, stained with past sun c eses, had verv little means of preserving antiseptic conditions, and eepsfs was monotonously frequent.” In 1.860 j Joseph Lister, a very humane man,,,set himself out to solve this prelbem. His attention was dr'iwn by a friend to the work, of Pasteur, in Paris, ond after much study be found that Roods was due to micro-organisms. Instruments, the hands, and clothing r.—>e then sterilised with carbolic acid and a spray was used on the wound. The rate of mortality dropped greatly and .at last surgery wa s able to advance more raw’dly. However, it was some years before ’Lister\s methods were wholly accepted in .Engine!, .although Germany and Amonic, a were quicker to take them up.

To-day sepsis still occurred on occasions', but, wag practically . inonoxisfent after operations, and surgeons could work without fear. In the l;st 50 years accurate diagnosis had progressed remarkably, and in IBPo Nrays were discovered by Professor Pontgcn. Diseases of the hope then became discoverable. Since the war the barium meal had been used,, form ing opaque conditions ■ln the storoo.ch, and thus both it .and the intestines cou’d be eyandned by the rays. Now, an in’cction of opaque substance could be introduced into the blood stream, evrJVing a doctor to examine the kidneys. , CMoreover, the br'in could ml so .be investigated by means of Nrays. In the last year o r so, some Portuguese workers bad been, qble : to .secure p’etures of. the blood-vpsse’s ,ot the brain, and these were of immense value

INTERNAL PHOTOGRAPHY.. In Paris, recently, a, surgeon h”cl invented a.'tirjiy camera, which could bp swallowed and thus internal pictures could be taken. It .was ‘y®*’ too early to cay whether they would be of any practical use. The cause and process of disease were constantly ’being investigated in the ■labor .taries. Cultures, grown artificially,. were of. great help to the scientists, and by moans of a remarkable film, in which the action wa 6 speeded up many thousands of times, the growth of cancers and the effect upon them of radium could be observed Doctors of the old days had few (armaments — a- scalpel and the hands. Today they had radium and the electric knife, which prevented haemorrhage, to a very great extent by sealing up the blood-vessels and destroying , cancer cells*' Actually it was not , a knife in the accepted sense of the term, (but was a . fine needle point with which was employed an electric

H.EAYV COST OF RADIUM. Rome idea of the enormous cost of radium was given by Dr Eppstein. One gramme, he said, cost £20,000. It underwent a constant change, eventually turning into lead, 'but lor one half of a gMiiime to turn into lead would take 1800 years, and 'the same period for the other half. Radium gave off .alpha, bet-n, and gamma rays, the latter - destroying cancer cells. The needles were placed in the tissue of the patient and left there for about a week. Even after they were removed the action, continued for another thre or four weeks. Referring again to anaesthetics Dr Eppstein said that to-day a- patient, could be put to sleep in his bed and know nothing, even of going to the operating theatre. Often when he awoke, some hours later, he asked when the operation was to take place. A -vote of thanks was accorded the speaker on . ; the motion, of Mr Pete” Hockley. Mr Alan J. Wills, president of the club, was in the chair.