New-York tribune., 1902-12-16
FIRST CLINIC
Vienna Surgeon Operates Success
fully on Y1oo Children.
ONE CASE TREATED BY ASSISTANT.

ONE CASE TREATED BY ASSISTANT.
DR.. Adolf Lorenz began his series of opera
tons in this city yesterday afternoon at the
Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled. Forty
seconds and Lexington nave Two little girls
were operated on by the doctor himself and one
by his assistant DR.. Frederick Muller. assisted
by DR.. Royal Whitman.
1t a few minutes after J when DR. LorenZ
entered the room which had previously been
hl1ed by about three hundred physicians and
surgeons invited to the operation. He was
greeted by applause. and after being introduced
by DIR, Virgil p, cibney, he at once proceeded
read an address his method of treating
congenitaI disIocaton of the hip.
II WAS learned that 10 Der cent Of the cases
of this disease males, and the disease. in
nearly all cases is of the left leg. IL is not
known why this is. since statistics bearing on
these facts have never been gathered,
general investigation 10 the made
The operating room is on the sixth floor and
in the northeast corner OF tho building Raised
seats gave a full view to every present,
Prior to the operation DR.. LOrenz spent over
an hour going through the various wards of the
hospital and looking over the patients.
The first patient, Mary Singleton, six years
old of No 107 East Eighty-slXth-st was
brought in under ether, and the surgeon kept
up his remarks ne began to operate. 1t
almost exactly 3:f5 O'Clock he began The
patients left leg. which the affected,
was fexed in various directions. show the
position of the head of the femur. which was
some three inches out of place. At the end of
threa- rainutes7 ne operator began 10 pull it
into the position it should have been, renlarking
he did
We begin. we begin, to notice the possibility
OF drawing 1t in this way - Two minutes
later he continued: We shall know when the
joint is made, for we at least discern, we dis
Germ" little snap that was audible through
out the room completed his sentence for him,
and everybody applauded
TALKS AS HE OPERATES.
Continuing his talk. the operator explained
technically what had been accomplished. and
showed that the joint remained in place in
certain positions of the leg. but slipped
again in others. At 3:25 o'clock he turned the
patient over to his assistants to be bandaged
in plaster of paris. and he finished his remarks
while this being done. He said that he ad
vocated the wearing of the cast for from six
months TO year. but that the sore
ness of the operation disappeared the patient
should try to walk as much as possible.
It's walk would not be natural at first, he
said. as The leg could not be lifted straight in
front. account of the cast: but soon
the cast was removed the natural manner of
walking would soon be resumed. At night the
patients leg (or legs, if the dislocation were
bilateraD should be bound wedge shaped
cushion. in the position in which the joint
made, at right angles to the natural one. the
angle being gradually reduced as the cure pro-
ceeded
He said that he had treated over one thousand
cases, and detailed the only accidents he had
ever had, which included breaking a bone in
one case, and rupturing artery in another
He said that the results had followed
the same methods throughout tho civilized
world, and that he particularly pleased TO
operate and demonstrate in this country, the
mother of orthopedic surgery" He said for his
method that it something TO be certain
that even if unsuccessful, it might he beneficial,
and that no evil results would follow.
1t was 3:44 o'clock when he announced that
he was ready for the second case that OF
Madeline DeYereu1. seven years Old. OF No
location was reduced In four minutes though
the operator announced that IL was VERY diff
heuit." 1t was easy TO see that he exert
ing I@Hmenge amount strength In his
mantpu1ations and just before the joint snapped
into place. several in the audience caught their
breaths audibly. The fact that the patients
stertorous breathing quite audible added
to the impression that she could not be under
going the operation without pain. The bandag-
o'clock
DR.. Gibney then announced that owing to the
necessity that DR.. Lorenz should appear at other
operations during the week and the trouble
with his injured wrist. the third operation would
not be performed by himself His assistant Dr.
Frederick Mueller. operated the case later
however. The patient Helen Krebs of No
2T4 Puaski-st., Brooklyn. All the patients
selected were regular inmates of the hospital
though one had been brought in since the com
ing of DIR. Lorenz to the city.
The only apparatus employed by the doctor
in his operations We're towel covered roll and
a wedge shaped rest. When the leg had been
fexed to the position desired, the body of the
patient was rested the wedge and the femur
drawn to place by sheer strength The doctor
said that there a definite age limit outside
of which the operation was generally fmpos-
sible. though he had in case successfully
Generally he said. the patient should be under
nine years.
At so D. m. the clinic was over and DR.
Iorenz and severaF others left the hospital
After dinner at the Holland, it decided
TO go to the theatre and it said the one
selected was the Criterion.
To-day at 1890 DR. Lorenz will be the guest
of DIR. Newton NJ Shaffer at a luncheon a
which DR.. Mueller, DR.. w. R Townsend, DR..
T Halsted Miers. Drs. Fitzhugh. Murphy and
Scott will also be present Another day has
L n added to DIR. Lorenzs programme. Next
Sunday he will operate at the NeW-York State
Hospital at TarrytoWn, af- -cr which DR.. Shaf-
fer will entertain him at the Ardsley Club,
To-day the clinic will be held at the New
York Poiyclinic Medical School and College at
II a. m. 1t will be impossible for Dr. LorenZ
to operate personally all the cases ready
for him. but the methods he will be so
generally learned at the various clinics that
almost any surgeon will be able to apply the
treatment hereafter.