Placing New Tools In Surgeon’s Hand

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31091, 21 June 1966, Page 13

Placing New Tools In Surgeon’s Hand

Discoveries of other sciences had placed new tools in the surgeon’s hand, said Sir John Bruce, the regius professor of clinical surgery at the University of Edinburgh, in an interview in Christchurch.

. He cited the laser beam i and intense cold cryogenic • surgery. Sir John Bruce said that . intense cold was today being . applied to structures which i were destroyed by the cold. He said’ electronic devices > made it possible to keep a [ close check on all aspects of . a patient’s condition during t the operation.' This was not possible five years ago. > The transplantation of ort gans from one individual to another had evolved over the ! last 10 years, but was still . in its infancy, said Sir John . Bruce. So far, transplants had largely been of kidneys. . In the next 20 years there I would be great extensions in i this field. When certain fun- , damental biological problems had been solved, there would i be lung and liver transplan- . tation. i “This work will save people ■ from death from diseases affecting their organs,” he said.

i “Much research is being done : in this field. Enormous sums are being spent on research : in Edinburgh, London and in ! many centres in the United i States.” Sir John Bruce praised the i distinguished work being i done in Auckland in the re- ’ placement of valves in the ; heart. This work had gained : international recognition. Sir John Bruce is visiting . New Zealand as a Sims travi elling professor. In Christ- > church he will visit hospitals I and meet surgeons.

i Walked 1000 Miles.—Two s Royal Air Force officers have i walked 1000 miles round the ■ island of Gan in the Indian • Ocean, where the Royal Air ' Force has a staging post for flights to and from the Far , East. The island is less than . two miles long and about half . a mile wide.—Singapore.