HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 76

HEALTH COLUMN.

Remarkable Surgery in America. According to American physicians whom I interviewed (cables the New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph), tha Rockefeller Institute a few days ago was , the scene of epoch-making surgical opera- ! tione, conducted! by Doe Saver Bruch, a German professor, in the presence of ex- , peits. i Dr Saver Bruch'e object was to prove that by the us© 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 p^atienfe. can breatheeasily with the chest cavity open, and withcut danger of collapse of •'the .lungs. Hitherto, the. moment the lumgs -weara exposed and subjected to atmospheric ju'eserure they coDapsed, and the patient dietf. Dr Saver Bruch's cabinet obviates this. It is made of glass and wood, s£ft square, ■and^about 6ft high, Afteor Dr Saver Bruch, his 'assistant, and a nurse had taken their J positions inside this cabinet, the subject was placed! upon the operating table, and; his head allowed to project through a rubber right-fitting- collar in the wall of the cabinet. The patient's head was outside this cabinet, and the collar kept any outside air fiom. reaching 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 1 breathins; witih ease, but it did 1 prevent tha [ collapse of the lungs when the chest cavity i was opened. The lungs then were exnosed j to the same pressure as before, and the subject continued to breathe easily. j Dr Sau-ei- Bruch removed one lung of a ' dog, and 1 'he animal breathed as readily j with the other lung, while the entire lung . action was exposed to the gaze. Then a ; section, of the oesophagus, or tube leading J from the throat to the stomach, was taken away from another dog to show how cancers could be removed. Other operations followed, and the doctors present expressed' the opinion tihat they afforded a most valuable basis for successful operations on human beings.