CONQUEST OF PAIN

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3990, 27 August 1929, Page 4

CONQUEST OF PAIN

RECENT DISCOTERIES

The chief guest at a luncheon of the Ne\V Zealand Club at Wellington last week was Dr. F. 11. M'Mechan, secretary-general of the International Anaesthesia Society, and an authority on anaesthesia. Dr. M'Mechan, of Cleveland, Ohio, is en route to Sydney to attend the medical conference there.

The history of anaesthetics, said Dr. M'Mechan, was only 84 years old, and while splendid work for .buttering humanity had been achie\ved in that time, much still remained to be done. The services which the medical profession gave to the public could not be 'complete until every doctor was able to relieve successfully and safely all pain from which a patient might suffer To bring about this was the aim of the International Anaesthesia Society.

“The application of pure physics and physical genius have produced machines for putting patients to sleep,” said Dr. iVPMechan. “The modern apparatus is so delicately adjusted that there may be given the precise mixture of gas and oxygen, which will secure unconscious-

ness and obliterate all pain, and which will not imperil in the least the patient’s vitality. The gases may be repeated almost indefinitely from day to day without any bad effects to the patient. The older anaesthetics cannot be repeated at short intervals more than two or three times, without disastrous effects.”

Another far-reaching discovery had been made in the direction of maintaining the purity of ether. Dr. M'Mechan said that ether was apt to deteriorate in storage, and this fact was responsible for much of the after sickness following its use. Research had disclosed that by lining' the ether tins with copper the formation of poisonous byproducts was entirely prevented, even when the ether was exposed to intense heat under pressure. In future suffering humanity would be spared the after-effects of using impure ether.

Dr. M'Mechan then stated that the greatest campaign--of the society was in the direction of eliminatingl the death crate in the jfli’sfc 72 hours after operation. By visible charting a patient’s vitality during an operation could be so checked that the onset of shock may be disclosed 20 minutes sooner than it could' b'e known in any other way. This safety-first charting was very materially reducing deaths on the operating table. Charts could be made of a patient’s vitality with the same accuracy as the flow of current in a power plant. Blood pressures, pulse, respiration, and the energy index of the heart were visibly noted on the charts every five minutes, and the deviation from normal standards was accurately shown, so that it was clear whether the patient was doing well or not. “We want to develop specialists to man the anaesthesia departments of the larger hospitals,” said Dr M'Mechan, in conclusion,, “and to lit every doctor to use anaesthetics and other pain-relieving drugs in every phase of his practice.”