NEW ANAESTHETIC

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 288, 31 August 1929, Page 29

NEW ANAESTHETIC

Two more major operations were performed in Paris recently, in which the new anaesthetic invented by a Mexican doctor, was used instead of chloroform or ether. This brings the number of serious and, it is claimed, successful operations done in the French capital with Dr. Marin’s system to 15. Dr. Marin, whose method has been technically described in the “Lancet." was there. with his assistant. Dr. Ortiz, to demonstrate it to the Paris surgeons in the kopa e£ obtaining official appro-

val of the French Medical Academy. Dr. Marin claims that the injection into the veins of a mixture of pure ethyl and alcohol and glucose Is both more effective and less harmful to the patient. The condition of anaesthesia is produced in from two to twelve minutes. and can be maintained much longer with safety than with either chloroform or ether. It has special advantages in throat, or head operations, where the ether cone hinders the surgeon and may cause infection, and in capes of heart

trouble. The patient, who is anaesthetised by an injection of alcohol, falls into a deep sleep after the operation, so that no morphine or drug has to be administered. Nor is there any nausea.

Dr. Ortiz has designed an automatic injection device which is attached to the patient’s arm. This makes it possible for a major operation tn be performed single-handed. The new method is soon to be demonstrated in Brussels, Rome, and Berlin. It has been used with success 200 times in Mexico.