Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-23
FOUR FALSE TEETH,
The Third Operation Of GSOphagOt0my
Performed in this Country.
The Patient Swallowed the Plate, which was
Caught in the Tube from the Throat
Leading to the Stomach
Philadelphia Press.

There was performed yesterday in the
surgical ward of the Philadelphia hos
pjtal what is termed Gsophagotomy, a
surgical operation never before per-
formed in this city, at least for the same
purpose.
The oesophagus or channel for the pass
age of food to the stomach of John Cav
anaugh was opened and part OF plate
with four false teeth attached was taken
out through the opening.
Cavanaugh was admitted to the
''dTunk ward of the almshouse a week
ago to-day. He was somewhat befud-
died with drink and was also spurred by
a suicidal mania. There was some OBJ
stTuctiOn in his throat that denied admis-
sion to solid food and the milk with
which he was fed gave him much
PAIN IN THE SWALLOWING.
The pain set him Tuning, and the
physician who had the man in charge
was fearful lest the frenzy arising from
the pain would lash him to tear his
throat open if he were left alone. What
had lodged in his gullet he could not tell +,
or he would not. His pain and loss of
balance made him surly.
Yesterday DR.. Beaver, who is surgeon
at the Philadelphia hospital, was sum-
moned. He was informed that some
thing was in the man s throat and that
CaYanaugh was inclined to. suicide, but
when, III response to the summons, he
took the man in hand, he found the suf-
ferer docile and apparently rational.
Cavanaugh was otherwise in good bodily
health. He said he didn't know what
was IL his throat, but whatever 1t was he
wanted it out, by the safest means posi-
BILE, but certainly by some means.
DR.. Beaver inserted al instrument
used for the purpose in Cavanaugh 5
throat to locate the intruding body, and,
if possible, to get some knowledge Of its
nature. AS soon as the instrument
clinked against one Of the false teeth,
the doctor knew what Cavanaugh had
swallowed The usual and safest way
of removing foreign bodies from the
throat is through the mouth. He tried
to get the plate and teeth out that way
but they had
BITTEN INTO THE MEMBRANE.
Next he tried to shove them down the
throat into the stomach, whence he
would remove them by comparatively
harmless and common operation but
the teeth still held on. The last resort
was OesophagOtomy which the surgeon
knew was a serious matter. But he was
face to face with it. At first Cavanaugh
thought he could stand the pain without
ether, but later on it was thought wiser
to administer the an@sthetic.
About four inches down the throat was
fixed as the point for opening. 1t took
the doctor an hour altogether TO get at
the teeth, but he got there. The plate
had a ger eraI circular shape about one
and a half inches in diameter. It hung
vertically in the oesophagus and so per-
mitted the passage of milk, but no solid
matter could pass The plate was sue
cessfuIly removed and the wound stitched
up. Cavanaugh is now at the hospital in
good condition and DR.. Beaver thinks he
will survive, but two or three days Will
elapse before he VIII be pronounced out
out of danger.
Not only is this the first operation of
the kind performed in this city. but it is
the third performed in the United States;
indeed only one Observation-Disclosures ease
precedes it. In 1914 there was a similar
operation performed in New York city.
The percentage of mortality is very high,
but statistics are so scant that it can not
be stated with any thing like eXactness
what the chances of recovery a man has
whose Oesophagus is cut open. DR..
Deaver's work in this case has been
highly praised by DR.. Agnew and other
surgical lights.