BLOODLESS SURGERY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18074, 16 May 1924, Page 11

BLOODLESS SURGERY.

,'_ » . RADIO-B-EATED NEEDLE. * - \TBsm. ooa owh coaixwoinnssT., .' * SAN FKANCISCO, April 93, Additional details on the novel device utilised in two , notable' cancel' operations in a Chicago hospital, whereby a practical substitute for the surgeoli's knife was .introduced, show that • "applications "of radio impulses to a surgeon's knife which burned ite' way through- tissues of the body cauterising as it passed produced nearly bloodless surgery, fad with- the use of che new instnunenrtwo operations or cancer of the bladder were performed successfully. •' , , ' As explained by W. H. Dodge, representative of the laboratory that perlected "the device, a low power radio transmitting set was used to generate the current. The. "knife," which wns about half the breadth-of a lead pencil and resembled a knitting needle, formed one terminal. The other was applied to the patient. The human tissue offered resistance to the passage of the current when the knife was applied. The resistance caused ' heat, while the knife burned itself through skin, fat and muscle quickly and without pressure. The set was fitted with two 40 v att^power.tubes and condensers,-Tlie current oscillated <it the rate of 40,000 cycles a second. The tension was ■ 800 volts at 450-milli-ampers:" The heat developed was great enough to fuse brass. Beside tlie operating table was a cabinet closely resembling the.,.,,. ;.-re> :.. ceiving set of the ordinary radio; In his hand the surgeon held'!the. knife; set in a rubber handle, a cord leadihe from it to the cabinet. Another cord, was attached to' a sheet of tinfoil ■';: on which the patient reclined. . ; \ i v Dr. A. J. WochinsHj who assisted..in the operations, after „• statthg ;thttfc pnev advantage of the; system was-:the vention of loss of blood, said:it iiraß;>a« portable set, 'consisting of ter and a receiver ed being carried ipicked up, not as'sbund v ; but ;as heat; " "By reason of high frequency 'of. 40,000 cycles a inski, 'it'loses s thel aspect,of, ordinary electrio current.;'.' Nor has it any. similarity .to.the X-ray. -.ltflwillibe a long time, I "believe, j before the radio' _apparatu£ replays the knife. Surgeons, "have been using the knife for centuries, l'oii can purclnise a'knife for- a dollar, while a set like this costs'about 5000 dollars. It is-, superior to the knife, however, in. that it causes no sloughing of the wound, thus pennitting the tissues to heal rapidly. In minor operations it, would nave practically no-, advantages over the knife."