Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-02-10
AN IMPORTANT OPERATION.

For many reasons, our city may be
justly proud of her medical faculty.
Our medical men are daily called
| upon to treat "all the ills that flesh is
heir to-" on account of the peculiar
reputation of our city as q sanitarium.
| We have noticed from time to time
some of the many evidences of pro-
fessional ability among the alumni;
but we acknowledge an especial
pleasure in presenting to-day brief
statement pertaining to the use of the
aspirator in the treatment of an ovar-
ian humor in this city. So far as we
know, the instrument has never been
used in this country for the relief of
ovarian cysts, and the credit of its
first application for the relief of that
disorder belongs to Drs. Kurtz and
Brooke, who, on Friday last, operated
upon Mrs. Geo. Wilhelm, relieving
her of thirty pints, or thirty-six pounds
by weight, of the contents of an ovar-
ian cyst or tumor..
The lady at present writing is COM
Portable, and has suffered none of the
Inconvenience which ordinarily at
tend the process of tapping in such
cases. 1t is our purpose to speak more
particularly of the aspirator and its
use, than of the operation. This in
strument was brought to the notice of
the French Academy of Medicine, by
DIR. George Dieulafoy, of Paris, in No
vember, 1889; but some controversy
exists as to the merit of the invention
being invested in DIR. Dieulafoy, of
Paris, or DR.. Fowditch of Boston. The
chief merit of the instrument consists
in its use to imbibe or draw off accu-
mutations of gas or fluid from any
portion of the body, without admit
ting air or causing injury or shock. 1t
consists of suction-pump capable OF
producing vacuum in its barrel,
which communicates with two
pound graduated receiving vessel, con-
nected with the barrel by means of
rubber tubing. Another piece of rub
ber tubing, four or five feet long, with
a short piece of glass tubing spliced
into it near it's distal extremity. COM
municates with the receiving vessel
and the exploring needle, the latter
being hollow, sharp pointed and
bended, and being a combined canula
and trocar, with stop-cock., The OPP
Grafton of Drs. Kurtz and Brooke was
conducted as follows: The aspirator
being ready (i.e., the previous vacuum
being made), the needle was intro
duced at the proper point. When the
needle had penetrated the tissue so
that the opening at its point was not
in contact with the external air, the
stop-cOck connected with the needle
was opened and the vacuum was thus
formed in the needle itself. The Nee
die, carrying the vacuum with it, was
then slowly pushed in the direction of
the tumor until the fluid contents
flowed over the glass index, showing
that tumor had been pierced. Then,
by means of the suction-pump, the
tumor was emptied of three and three
fOurths gallons of serO-sanguineous,
gelotinous fluid, in the space of one
hour, without pain or discomfort to the
patient and without making an open
ing much larger than would be occa-
stoned by inserting common darning
needle. Within the last year the as
pirator has been used with great sue
cess in pleural effusions, peri-carditis,
distended bladder and in effusions of
Joints, but we feel free to assert that
to the medical faculty of our city be-
longs the credit of Introducing aspira-
ton in the treatment of ovarian dis
ease.