Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1909-04-17
NEW KIND OF SURGERY
High Pressure Air Apparatus
Used In Thorax Operation.
KEPT BOYS LUNGS INFLATED.
Device, First Time Used In tho United
States, Is Expected to Open New
Field In Operations For tuberculosis
and Other Pulmonary Troubles.

Fleld IN Operations TOT upeTCulosls
and Other Pulmonary Troubles
The first operation in the United
States upon human being In which
the cavity Of the thoraX was opened
while the lungs We're inflated from a
chamber containing air Mt greater
pressure than that OF the atmosphere
was performed recently at the Ger
man hospital, Seventy-seventh street
and Park avenue New York, by DR..
Willy Meyer. That institution has
been the first hospital to be equipped
with the new positive air pressure APP
paratus. The operation upon Il little
boy for empycma thus far is deemed
to have been successful. The pa
tents condition has been satisfactory
since the operation.
1t is believed that the use Of this
surgery Of the thoraX, Up to this
time many operations in the thoraX
have been difficult to perform and 9th
ers impossible, owing to the fact that
as soon as the cavity of the thoraX
was opened the atmospheric pressure
collapsed the lungs and breathing
stopped.
The apparatus used, which is after
the models of Professor Sauerbruch
to a degree consists of two chambers
with a door between the chambers
and Il door from the smaller chamber
to the outer air. The chambers are
lined with rubber TO them run air
pipes and valves from a compressor
run by a motor.
The operating table is arranged SO
that the patient lies outside the main
chamber with his head within it. Rub
Der about the neck Of the patient
keeps the air within the chamber from
escaping. The front of the larger
chamber is of glass which allows the
surgeons to see within it. Within the
larger chamber when an operation is
performed are two anaeSthetists, who
administer the ether The smaller
chamber is for their convenience.
The air pressure within 1t is the same
as that within the larger chamber and
permits them to leave the patient and
return without changing the pressure.
In the operation at the German hos
pital the pressure was increased very
gradually until it was deemed at the
proper degree for the operation. Then
the cavity of the thOraX was opened.
While the lungs were inflated and res
min In
pressed air chamber DR.. Meyer and his
assistants were working in the open
air. After the cavity Of the thOraX
had been opened it was found that one
lung was compressed. With the re
moval Of the matter which was the OBJ.
ject Of the operation the lung expand.
ed at once and its use In respiration
returned
This, it was said, was unusual, for
without the use Of the positive pres
sure apparatus it would have been
weeks or months before the lung would
have dilated sufficiently. In this way
gain was made in the COnvalCscencc
Of the patient. 1t was said that the
little boy recently operated on would
be out in less than a month.
The positive air pressure apparatus
and its methods will be applied in the
near future to other operations in
which the thOracic cavity IS opened.
For instance, there is carcinoma of the
OeSOphagus.
Prior to the existence Of the positive
air pressure apparatus IT was impossi-
bic to operate for this disease. The
operation, however, to relieve this has
been performed successfully in Europe
with the use of the apparatus. 1t was
thought, too that the new apparatus
might lead to important results in tn
berculOsis. 1t was said that certain
parts of the lungs could be cut away,
since the apparatus would keep the
lungs inflated with every respiration
while the surgeons worked in ordinary
atmospheric pressure.