The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-26
BRAIN CUTTING FOR EPILEPSY.
A Great Surgical Operation at Jeffer-
son College Hospital.

A Great Surgical Operation at Jeffer-
son College Hospital.
From the Philadelphia Times.
A very rare and important operation in
surgery was performed by DR.. w. w.
Keen, professor of surgery at the jefferson
Medical College, the other day. 1t consisted
in removing diseased portion of child's
brain for the radical cure of epilepsy. A
remarkable feature of the case was the
absolute confirmation of Dr. Keen's
diagnosis. The history of the patient, who
is the little 6-year-old son of a prominent
clergyman in the interior of New York
state, is interesting. The little fellow, when
about IA months old, while playing at
home, fell ten feet upon plank floor AT
first, after the temporary pain had passed
off, no i'll effects were observed.
After time the boy became subject to
epleptic commissions and gradually lost the
power of speech, except snch words as
pa and ma. The parents consulted au-
thorlty after. authority, and at last
resolved to submit the case TO Prof. Keen
The child was brought here and by Prof.
Keen's directions was put in charge of an
Intelligent nurse, who had strict orders not
to interfere during the commissions, unless
to save her patient from harming himself
She was also ordered TO preserve strict
account of all the movements, motions and
expressions of countenance the patient I'M
derwent while in a CONFUSION.
THE SYMPTOMS DESCRIBED.
After a week of patient watching the
nurse rendered her report. The child, she
said, while in an epileptic state, turned its
head to the right, the muscles of the right
hand and arm twitched convulsively, aud
the right arm was drawn up in front OF the
face, as if trying to protect the eyes
From these symptoms DR. Keen concluded
that the nerves located on the left side of
the brain, Immediately in front of and be-
hind the figure of Rolando, were interfered
with by some lesion situated there. After
consultation it was decided to operate in
hopes Of removing the obstruction and so
curing the tendency TO epilepsy. On Sat
urday afternoon the little patient was
etherized, and laid upon the operating
table. His head had been carefully shaved
and washed with an antiseptic solution.
THE OPERATION BEGUN.
DIR. Keen, assisted by DR.. William Forbes
and DR.. Addinell Hewson. Jr., began the
operation. After taking the length of the
skull with an instrument devised for the
purpose and marking with an aniline pen
Gil line upon the crown running at an
angle of about sixty-seven degrees forward
and to the left Of the median line, DR..
Keen carefully separated the scalp and
turned it back, leaving the skull. covered
',ANAA VIZ POI NOoOOuiI3 kSClIGSIlJ Ap-
plying the trephine on the line he removed a
circular piece of bone and enlarged the
aperture thus made with the bone forceps
All of these pieces of bone were carefully
placed in sterilized fluid at the temperature
of the human body that is about 100 Fahren-
heit. Now the quivering brain covered
by the dura mater was to be seem This
being carefully divided, the diagnosticated
lesion right at the place supposed was
found.
AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.
AT this poi1t an interesting experiment
was made. A galvanic battery was brought
out, and on being applied to the cicatrix of
the brain, all the phenomena of an epileptic
attack were simulated, confirming the sur
geon's opinion that here was the seat of the
trouble. A few skillful, rapid, ard careful
movements of the knife followed, and in
few moments the mass of diseased brain
substance was successfully removed, and
the resulting cavity carefully cleaned On
applying the galvanic battery again no cpl
leptic CONFUSION followed, much to the phy-
sician's delight.
CLOSING UP THE WOUND.
The work of closing the brain by replac-
ing the dura mater carefully sutured was
begun, followed by replacing the bone, and
then the scalp over ali this was sklllfully
secured in place by antiseptic dressings and
bandageS and the little fellow restored to
his neat cot. No alarming results followed,
and the result of the operation will be
watched with great interest by the pro-
fession.