REMARKABLE SURGERY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 11 September 1908, Page 1

REMARKABLE SURGERY.

According to American physicians whom I have interviewed to-day (says the New York correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" on June 22), the Rockefeller Institute last week was the scene of epoch-making surgical operations conducted by Dr Sauerbruch, a German professor, in the presence of experts. Dr Sauerbruch's object was to prove that by the use of a big glass cabinet he has solved the problem of operating upon the lungs, and probably paved the way to successful surgery "for the cure of internal cancer, and possibly of tuberculosis where the lung tissue is affected. He has shown, it is claimed, that by the use of his cabinet the patient can breathe easily with the chest cavity open, and without danger of collapse of the lungs. Hitherto, the moment the lungs are exposed and are subject to atmospheric pressure, they collapse, and the patient dies. Dr Sauerbruch's cabinet obviates this. It is made of glass and wood, 5_ feet square and about 6 ft. high. After Dr Saerbruch, his assistant, and a nurse had taken their positions inside this cabinet, the subject was placed upon the operating table, and his head allowed to project through a rubber, tight-fitting. collar' in the wall of the cabinet. The patient's head was outside this cabinet, and the collar kept any outside air from Teaching the interior. By means of a suction pump the air inside was then reduced to negative pressure. This did not prevent those inside the cabinet from breathing with ease, but it did prevent the collapse of the lungs when the chest cavity was opened. The lung6 were then exposed to the same pressure as before, and the subject continued to breathe easily. Dr Sauerbruch removed one lung of a dog, and the animal breathed ss readily with the other lung, .while the entire liing action was exposed to gaze. Then a section of the aesophagus was removed.