SURGEON'S SKILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21765, 3 April 1934, Page 6

SURGEON'S SKILL

CHILD SWALLOWS WATOII -REMOVAL from lung PATIENT'S GOOD RECOVERY [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] SYDNEY, March 29 From tuna to tune the doctors of tlit- ,<;reat Sydney hospitals are called ii) 50!) to perform some difficult feats in order to save life, and tlie.v succeed more often than they fail. This is due to the skill of the present-day surgeon, who has the assistance of many remarkable devices. 1 his week, with the aid of a bronchoscope and a pair of forceps doctors at the Sydney Hospital were able to remove from a child's lung a toy watch which she Lad swallowed while at play. For a while the child was very ill. hut she has now recovered and has returned to her home at Bombala, a country town many mitas from Sydney. The patient was Gloria Povev. aged seven. The doctors were told that last Wednesday week Gloria had placed the watch in her mouth and had then taken a deep breath Ihe watch immediately disappeared. The local doctor realised the seriousness of the position, and advised that the child should be rushed to Sydney to receive the skilled attention she required if her life was to Ik- saved The journey by motor-car and train was trying for both the child and her mother. During the whole time the child appeared as though she were choking, and at times it was thought that she would die before- she reached the city. At the hospital it was decided t;hat an immediate operation was necessary. The child was taken to the theatre. A bronchoscope—a long surgical instrument with an electric globe on the end, to enable the surgeon tc see —was inserted in her throat, and into th" lung, where the watch was seen. A delicati- operation followed, a doctor having to manipulate a pair of forceps down the throat and into the 'lung •without causing any injury. He eventually sec'ired the watch, and verv slowly he withdrew it. fhere was a sigh of relief among the doctors when the watch reappeared. Surgeons are frequently called upon to remove large foreign bodies from the lung and the stomach- Mostly pins and coins ar" swallowed, and even false teeth find their way down the throat. One of the most unusual of these cases was treated by one of the doctors at the Sydney Hospital, who specialises in. this particular work. A young woman was admitted after having swallowed a table fork. An internal operation was necessary and after the fork had been recovered, and the patient convalescing, she swallowed a hair clasp Another operation was performed.