SHEEP'S VEIN FOR A MAN

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 600, 31 August 1909, Page 5

SHEEP'S VEIN FOR A MAN

PARIS' SURGEON'S OPERATION. (By Telceraph.-rPrm Aasoelallon-OoDrrlchtl Paris, August 29. , Dr.- Doyen, of Pai'is, has successfully transplanted - a live'- -sheep's •'! vein, into the leg ; of ..a'.patient 'suffering ' from arterial aneurism, circulation being thus restored. ■:This is the.first instance in, which the organism ■of a lower animal has bean trans-ferred-to man. -. * . TRANSPLANTING AN ARTERY., THE TEST OF SUCCESS. ■ . .An arterial aneurism is a; dilation of tho artery,'which; blocks the circulation, and' ultimately causes the,death of the part deprived: of .the t inentioned,; tha'aneurism':has been"'removca;'and'..the secI'tiori of artery replaced by a healthy from a live sheep, , the parts being united , by rsutures, until' organic; union.shall have taken place:' ;'The new ; does not 'be'c6me,- e3-' sentiaUy. -an organic part of the artery; but simply ■ supplies a basis for organic 'develop-'., ment, ai)d, in course of time, hy atomic "wait-, ing," gives place, to' a new section-of the artery.. In this-particular case, tho message states that. the transplanting of, the sheep's artery' has been accomplished, but does. not-:make . it- clear whether sufficient time has elapsed since tho actual operation to determine the.ultimato success of the feat. .The test of the operation will be the satisfactory development of organio action in tho new section of the artery, and the power of resistance to tho pressure of the arterial current. If the operation survives - tho test-it will indeed havo been a wonderful feat. Operations of a similar kind, however are by no means rare 1 in modern , surgery. _ Even m New Zealand decayed -nerve sections in human beings have , been replaced by living lierve sections from^'.'-lower-animals,'while; thotr'ansplantr ing of healthy .bone from a live animal, to,the human being is a mattor of history.:. Dr. Doyen is probably. the scientist who was recently credited with the discovery of a auccossful cancer serum, which, however, was afterwards pronounced, to be a failure.