MEDICAL CONGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1927, Page 10

MEDICAL CONGRESS

DISEASES OF THE BLOOD

VALUE OF TRANSFUSION

(By Telegraph.— Press Association.) DUNEDIN, 9th February. At the Medical Congress to-day,-in-teresting papers were read dealing with diseases of the blood and also with the development of the various forms of colls of, the l^lood met with under normal and abnormal conditions. Professor Witherington Stump (Sydney) showed a series of micro-photo-graphs illustrating the origin of certain of the cells and settling a long-stand-ing dispute in regard to this matter. Professor Garmalt Jones (Dunedin) spoke of the value of blood transfusion in pernicious anaemia. Gullan had stated most positively that arsenic by the mouth was the best treatment, and that blood transfusion was only an adjuvant to help a patient round a critical corner. He described the treatment of 16 typical cases in the Dunedin Hospital during the last seven years. Five patients had had ho transfusions. Of these three had died in a short time, one had been somewhat relieved, and one had improved very considerably. Of the 11 treated with transfusions, one, a woman of 77, was in a desperate condition, and the treatment had not afforded any relief. A second failure was recorded in the case of a man of 27, who had had a high fever and some acute infection. One woman had improved to such an extent that she considered herself cured. Another patient had regarded himself „is well since the transfusion, while a third was very considerably improved. Still another was much improved by the first treatment, but • had relapsed. Dr. Jones concluded that repeated transfusion of small amounts of blood was of the highest value in pernicious anaemia. Dr. Jefferis Turner (Brisbane) dealt with the prevention of disease in infancy and childhood. He pointed out that much ground still remained to be covered before the principles of prevention could be applied to specific cases of diseases in children. Ante-natal :< supervision and treatment of the mother should save a great deal of infant wreckage and parental misery. Premature birth', injuries during birth, and eclampsia also left their, traces. In regard to the first and second years of life, much progress had been made, especially in New Zealand. The mortality in the second year of life was largely due to infective disease, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, etc. He thought that much illhealth couia be prevented by treating defects due to removable causes, such as adenoids. Sir George Syine (Melbourne) dealt with the surgical aspect of hydatid disease, saying that accumulated, experience had led to a modification of many of the earlier views. They had now adopted general principles. Dr. Bond, of Leicester, had introduced an operation eminently satisfactory for cysts in the spleen and kidneys and small cysts in the liver, and Dr. Hamilton Russell, of Melbourne, had introduced a method for dealing wjth larger cysts, which method Sir George Syme considered the best means of treatment. The treatment of cripples in times of war and peace was' the subject of one of the most important discussions at the Medical Congress. (It is reported under another heading.) The congress'practically concluded its sessions in the afternoon, and a large number of delegates will leave by the express to-morrow.