Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-15
DIFFICULT SURGERY.
Pittsburg Ahead of the Quaker City
in the Use of the
KNIFE ON THE HUMAN 6ODY.
Some Wonderful Operations Performed by
Allegheny County Surgeons.
MURDERS CAN BE GREATLY DECREASED

Some clever sawbones in the Quaker City
has succeeded in securing wide circulation
for an item published in yesterdays DIS
PATCH in reference to the operation of ''in-
testinal resection," or the removal of por-
tion of human intestines, and the successful
joining of the separated ends. The ite' :,
also stated that the operation in ques' tior
was the first of its nature perform led il
Philadelphia, and that there wer opl,
about 80 instances of a similar Joperatior
upon record.
A distinguished surgeon Of this count,
was interviewed yesterday u pom the subjec
of abdominal surgery, Suggested by tn.
Philadelphia case. He said: "Philadel
phia m ust be way behir I'd the times if thi.
report be correct. Pitt Eburg and Allegheny
r surgeons can I1TinITs,, more extensive ex
perience than the one referred to as an
isolated case. There are by actual count %
surgeons OF this county who have opened the
abdomen. Three or four of them have per.
formed the operation from 10 to % times,
and a resident specialist just recently per
formed
HIS HUNDREDTH OPERATION.
GAS to this particular operation of intes-
tinal resection, DR.. Sutton, of Allegheny.
removed three inches of intestine from a
patient in the spring of 1888, and believe
the lady patient was still living three years
afterward. 1t is delicate operation, but it
has been done scores of times by Pittsburg
surgeons.
II wonder if the public knows that
within decade surgery has so advanced
that any obscure disease in the abdominal
regions can now be located and the cause of
the disease removed. A sample case was
treated in this city but two weeks since.
The wife of a professional man of eminence
had a mysterious disease which bafi1ed any
diagnosis after the ancient style of medical
or surgical treatment. Finally an incision
was made in the abdomen, the gall-bag was
opened, and. through the latter, number
of stones were removed from the liver ducts.
The patient has already recovered, and the
case will receive great attention from the
medical profession, as such an operation is
almost without precedent. Among the re-
markable cases handled by Pittsburg sur
geons wit hin few years, are diseases of
every organ in the abdominal cavity. in
cluding the entire intestinal canal. The
spleen. gall-bsg. liver. kidneys, and
have. all been treated, and with re-
markable intimidation of fatalities The
ancient Cesarian operation has been re-
vived and improved, and at present both
mother and child are frequently saved,
whereas under the old method life was often
sacrificed.
"One-half the murders of the present day
could be prevented by the use of the abb
dominal methods of surgery, that is if the
wound was in that region of the body.
How? Simply enough. Gunshot or stab
bling wounds to be fatal must sever either an
artery or an intestine. If an artery is
severed what is called internal bleeding
fills the stomach with blood, which de-
composes, causing peritonitis, and death
follows in few hours. Modern abdominal
surgery proposes to cut the patient open
and apply iigature to the internal artery
and remove the blood that has flowed into
the stomach, and in nine out of ten cases,
no matter how ugly the wound may have
been, the patient will recover. The same
method will save life in cases of an in
testinal wound. The treatment must be
rapid, as a matter of course. You remem-
Der the policeman who was shot by negro
in the parks. 1t is very likely that this
treatment would have saved his life The
died if he had been promptly opened and
patched up. The old way OF putting a
blister on a mans stomach and giving him
-