DOCTOR DEFIES DEATH

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 144, 14 March 1931, Page 22

DOCTOR DEFIES DEATH

Risky Operation on Himself A Berlin surgeon, Dr. Werner Forssmann, has just performed upon himself one of the most daring and difficult surgical operations ever attemptcd. When a colleague refused to assist in an operation on the heart that was In the nature of an experiment with possibly fatal consequences the surgeon performed the work himself, and actually walked upstairs with a hollow tube penetrating his heart. Dr. Forssmann recognised that in certain cases it is necessary to stimulate the heart of a patient directly. To accomplish this he hit upon the idea of introducing a hollow probe into a vein and then pushing it to the heart. Thus the stimulant could be introduced directly to the heart. Experiment on a corpse showed that a tube Introduced into the large vein at the left elbow can be easily led to the Then Dr. Forssmann experimented upon himself. ' One of his colleagues opened the vein at the elbow and pushed in more than a foot of fine tubing. At this point the assistant expressed the view that the experiment was too dangerous. But Forssman was not satisfied, and, after administering to himself a local anaesthetic, he introduced the probe to its full length of 2ft. Then, with the probe in his heart, the dare-devil surgeon walked along a corridor and up a flight of stairs to the X-ray room in order that photographs might be taken. Later he was none the worse, and it is believed that his discovery will be of the utmost value.—“ Sunday Chronicle” correspondent.