“NEW RESPIRATORY MACHINE NEEDED”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29635, 4 October 1961, Page 8

“NEW RESPIRATORY MACHINE NEEDED”

A new respiratory machine for the aid of patiepts with such conditions as asthma and emphysema, or recovering from the effects of certain operations, was needed in Christchurch, Mr H. T. Thompson, full-time thoracic surgeon to the North Canterbury Hospital Board, said yesterday. He had just returned from a four-month tour in North America and Europe. To see the latest world advances in assisting patients with respiratory insufficiency, Mr Thompson made a special journey to Sweden, where, he said, the most forward work was being done. The two major new techniques being used there were tracheostomy (cutting a hole in the windpipe) and mechanical respirators to force air into and out of the lungs. The best type of mechanical respirator for patients with insufficient breathing power was made in Sweden, he said, but each machine would cost about £l2OO landed in New Zealand. Nevertheless, he hoped it would be possible to get at least one such machine in Christchurch Tracheotomy had been used in Scandinavia for 10 years, but was only just beginning to be introduced into New Zealand, Mr Thompson added. Hypothermia

He described the new technique of hypothermia, where the body was cooled to produce a sort of artificial hibernation during which surgery was simplified because of the reduction of the level of activity of the body processes. There were two degrees of hypothermia a moderate hypothermia, in which the body temperature was reduced from 98deg to about Sfideg, and a profound hypothermia, where the body temperature fell to about 59deg. Profound hypothermia was used chiefly in cardiac surgery, so that the surgeon could operate on a quiet and dry heart. Moderate hypothermia could be used in any protracted thoracic or abdominal surgery. Moderate hypothermia was induced fairly simply by enveloping the patient in an ice-cooled bath, and little difficulty should be experienced in arranging for this in an ordinary New Zealand operating theatre. Profound hypothermia, however, was achieved by cooling the patient’s blood-stream in a heat-exchanger, and considerable expense would be entailed.

Some overseas cardiac centres which Mr Thompson visited used a heart-lung machine rather than hypothermia for their operations, while many others used a combination of the techniques. The standard of heart surgery at the Green Lane Hospital, Auckland, was as high as any he had seen on his tour.

In vascular surgery, Dr. Thompson saw the new technique of reaming out blockages in the coronary arteries to improve the circulation to the heart, and of reaming out or by-passing blocks in

the blood vessels going to the brain to overcome minor strokes. In some cases, the results in both coronary and Carotid operations nad been excellent. The effects of a stroke had sometimes been completely overcome.

Towards the end of his tour, Mr Thompson went to Dublin to attend the combined congress of the International Society of Surgery and the International Society of Cardiovascular Surgery.