BOLD SURGERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23133, 3 September 1938, Page 12

BOLD SURGERY

GAMBLE FOR LIFE LIME ROUND HEART REMARKABLE OPERATION A LUCKY AUSTRALIAN After gambling his life on a surgeon'* skill and winning, a young man passed through Auckland by the Monterey jes terday bound for his home in Melbourne, where he will recuperate from a daring and extremely rare operation performed in the United States. Literally the operation freed his heart from a casing of stone which had been slowly but relentlessly constricting it. Tho young man is Mr. A. M. Watkins, aged 26, of 55 Barbers lload, Kew, Melbourne. Six months ago he passed through Auckland with theknowledge that, failing a successful operation, he could not expect to live beyond the present month. Now, with the operation past, he can look forward to a normal lifetime. He cannot speak too highly of tho expert surgeon who attended him, and his sentiments are repeated by his young wife and his parents, who are travelling with him. Enclosing Lime Deposit His trouble developed eight years ago. It took time to make its presence felt, and did not cause inconvenience until early last March. The root of tho complaint was then diagnosed as a lime deposit, which was slowly closing the vein leading blood to the heart by tightening around it. Instead of performing its proper function, the heart was not able to treat sufficient blood to cope with the food consumed by Mr. Watkins. The result was that his blood turned to water, and a form of dropsy developed.

After many preliminary examinations Mr. Watkins was operated upon early in May by Dr. Stuart W. Harrington, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. The operation on the heart took two hours, while the whole operation took slightly more than four hours. Surgical Quarry For two hours the heart lay exposed partly in and partly out of the body while Dr. Harrington chipped and cut away the rock-like substance which was choking it. So that life would not stop the surgeon worked at the calcified pericardium, or sac enclosing the heart, for two or three minutes and then applied a warm cloth to the heart for an equal length of time. This procedure, followed to allow the heart to recuperate, was repeated through 120 minutes and each time a small part of the greywhite mass was removed.

For much of the time Dr. Harrington held the pulsating organ in his hand. The calcified coating completely surrounded the heart and it was only by lifting it out of the chest that he could work at the under side. Preliminary Needs To allow the operation to be performed, it was necessary to cut off the tips of four of Mr. Watkins' ribs. Between 50 and 60 small veins were cut and tied before it was completed. The heart expanded considerably in diameter immediately after it had been freed.

Mr. Watkins' recovery from the operation was rapid. An oxygen tent assisted breathing for the first few days but soon the heart was able to perform its functions without artificial aid. llien, when it appeared as though he would be ready to leave the hospital three weeks after the operation, he developed serious influenza, and for several days hovered between life and death. The crisis passed, however, and he was able to leave hospital at the end of a further six weeks. A New Lease of Life "It has given me a new lease of life," Mr. Watkins said last night. .Before the operation X was a semiinvalid given only six months to live. Now I am getting better every dav and have a future to look forward to". "There was no alternative to the operation which was very dangerous," ho added. "I am very 'thankful my father took me to the United States and I am glad to have como safely through."