GRAFTING OF LEG ARTERY

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26869, 23 October 1952, Page 11

GRAFTING OF LEG ARTERY

UNUSUAL OPERATION IN CHRISTCHURCH

DEMONSTRATION GIVEN BY PROFESSOR C. G. ROB

An artery grafting operation performed by Professor C. G. Rob, professor of surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, when he was conducting a post-graduate course in surgery at the Christchurch Hospital recently, is believed to be the first of its kind performed in the Southern Hemisphere. Professor Rob took a length of artery from the right thigh of a railwayman killed in an accident, and used it to replace the crushed artery in the leg of another Christchurch railway worker whose right leg had been severely injured in a railway accident. The new artery lived for six weeks, and enabled the patient to grow a new length of artery to replace the damaged one. It is thought that the patient, who was partly crippled, may now regain the full use of the leg. The operation was watched by surgeons from many parts of New Zealand, according to a report before the North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday.

The principle of replacement of damaged or diseased arteries was not new, the report said, but Professor Rob and his associates had evolved a new method of storing arteries which had greatly simplified the procedure.

Arteries are removed, with the consent of relative®, from a body within six hours of death, and stored in a deep freezer. If thawed rapidly, arteries so stored can be used even after a year. It is thought likely that an artery bank will be established at the Christchurch Hospital. The chairman of the board (Mr V. C. Lawn) said he was sure Professor Rob had left a great fund of information behind him which would be most advantageous to those from all over the Dominion who saw the operation performed.