The record-union., 1897-12-25
A Woman Living Months After II
Had Been Removed,
Apparently as Well as Before the Operation
Was Performed.
Daring and Successful Operation
Performed by Dr.. Carl Schlat-
ter at Zurick, SwiterIand-A
New Chapter in the History OF
Surgical Triumphs.

NEW YORK. Dec. 24-The Medical
Record will tomorrow publish an ac-
count Of the first successful removal of
a human stomach.
The feat itself is the most brilliant
and daring ever attempted in recent
surgical history, but the attendant dis
coVery that the stomach is not a vital
organ is even more important. Hither-
to it has been considered utterly impos-
sible for a person to livesyithout a stom-
ach. With the fall of this long-recog-
nized axiom, the old theories of medicine
and surgery may be entirely changed,
and the field of possibilities which the
discovery opens up is practically limit
less.
The operation which has so startled
the medical world was peri med in
Zurich, Switzerland. by Dr. Carl SchIat-
ter on September 9th last. The subject
was Annie Lands, So years old. and a
silk weaver. This woman had COM
planned for years of stomach trouble
DR.. Schlatter diagnosed the case, and
found that she was suffering from an
exceptionally large oval tumor in her
stomach. Laporotomy was performed,
and DR.. Schlatter found that the wo-
mans outer stomach presented a hard
mass. Then this daring operator, see
ing that the organ was useless, went to
work and freed it from its delicate at
tachments, cutting, twisting and clamp
ing among the most vital organs with
the coolness and deliberation of an ex-
pert dentist drawing a hard tooth.
VI
can only be appreciated by members
Of the medical profession. When DR..
Schlatter had excised the entire stom-
achs he firmly united a small coil of in
testines to the aesophagus, thus making
a direct connection between the alimen-
tary canal and the bowels. The work
Of joining the intestines and the aeso-
phagus was most delicate. They were
bound together with sutures. The or
gans We're allowed 70 drop back into
their positions, the eabdominal wound was
sewed up, and all there was to show
that Anna Lands had lost her stomach
was a slight retraction toward the dia-
phragm.
The operation lasted nearly two hours
and a half. The loss of blood was slight.
The period following proved that the
sterilization had been perfect, and the
operation wonderfully performed. The
patient, although old and feeble, eX-
hibited but few of the serious symp-
toms that usually follow a vital opera
ton. Minute quantities Of liquid food
were given to her at short intervals.
With the exception Of occasional vornit-
ing this food seemed to be aSsimLated,
despite the absence of a food receptacle.
In the course of a week she was given
solid food. 1t was retained and digested
without discomfort and even DR.. Schlat-
ter himself marveled at the almost un-
expected success of his bold work. He
was handicapped in giving the patient
solid food because she only had one
tooth left in her head.
On October 11th, a month and five
days after the stomach had been re-
moved, Anna Lands left her bed. By
November 1st she was feeling perfectly
well, and was walking about. Her
weight increased, and apparently she
was in far better health than before the
operation.
DR.. Edmund Charles Wendt of New
York City, the correspondent of the
Medical Record" who obtained Dr.
NCuIdtleI pHISQIdA dCCOuHL Ol the Iedl,
states that on the 9th of this month he
saw Anna Lands, and that to all in
tents and purposes she is a well woman.
She is still under observation at the
Zurich County Hospital, but is able to do
her full share of work in the wards.
She has had many medical visitors from
all quarters of the globe, and by this
time has grown quite proud of her de-
pleted body.
"Dr. Wendt concludes from the sue
cessful removal of this stomach that
the human stomach is not g, vital organ;
that the digestive capacity of the stom-
ach has been considerably overrated;
that gain of weight may take place de-
spite the absence of gastric activity;
that vomiting may occur without a
stomach. and that the chemical func-
tions of the human stomach can be sat
isfactorily performed by the other di
vision of the alimentary canal.
Commenting upon all these things, the
Medical Record editorially will say:
Whatever we may venture pro or con
on the question at issue, the fact appears
TO be proven that the human subject
can live and be reasonably active for
months without any stomach whatever,
and obtain all the necessary digestion
and nourishment from what remains of
the intestinal tract. 1t is possible that
the latter may have a new set of func-
tons not yet understood, or has the i'm
portance of stomach digestion been mis-
apprehended and overrated? At any
rate, we are brought face to face
with a very curious demonstration,
which destroyed the validity of many
preconceived opinions, and in a great
measure nullified the results of many
previous experiments.
In the matter of a brilliant achieve
ment, the operation takes first rank.
and the daring and brilliant surgeon
will receive the well deserved congratu
lations of his peers throughout the
world. He has opened the first chap
ter in a new history of surgical
triumphs."