SKULL BONE REPLACED

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 6 March 1935, Page 8

SKULL BONE REPLACED

GRAFTING OPERATIONS.

TWO REAf ARK ABLE OASES. SYDNEY, Feb. 25. Two of the most remarkable skull operations ever successfully attempted i in Sydney are being discussed in medj ical circles. In one instance a broken bone was removed from the cranium and replaced to grow. Unknown to the doctors the patient regained sensibility during the operation, and, unable to give warning, suffered agony. In the second case doctors will graft into the skull a large 'piece of bone from another .part of the body. Charles Rlansdale, 26, cabin steward, on the Mongolia-, had the damaged piece of his head placed back to “grow” afrosli. He fell from the top of the gangway of his ship to a wharf and did not remember any more until awakening in hospital. When he was taken there it was found that his scalp was lifted from the forehead to the crown of the head, and the skull was shattered. A specialist attached to the hospital in an honorary capacity was at once called in. As soon as the pressure was relieved from the brain an amazing thing happened. The surgeon had at this stage saved his life, but he was unable to tell that sensibility—as distinct from complete consciousness—had returned to the patient. Recounting his experiences Ransdnle said that ho keenly felt the doctor lifting the hone in his head, and was conscious of .the scraping and cutting of the skull. Ho suffered frightful agony until' d'h© operation was completed. Once the bone was replaced it knitted rapidly, and ho has boon placed on a ship returning to London where his fiancee awaits hini. The second, case was that of Keith Cunningham, aged five, of Darlington, a Sydney suburb. He was injured when he fell from a motor lorry. He took a series of fits and was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.. Doctors immediately operated. K piece of bone, nearly the size of the boy’s hand, was taken from the skull, the pressure removed from the brain and sub-dui'al haemorrhage arrested. Drainage from the brain was necessary and doctors had to insert rubber tubes to facilitate this. To protect the soft spot and prevent further injury, a piece of bone will be taken from another part of his body and grafted into the skull in place of the -portion which was removed.