Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-09-17

| portant emergency operations is sur
gerry of the heart. This Is extremely
! hard to carry out in a field hospital
owing to thJ difficulty OF obtaining
rigid asepsis the number OF assistant
required and the exactng technique.
Recently DR.. Francis Stewart Of phiia
delphia reported five cases OF suture
/ OF the heart. His first case was stab
wound OF the left ventricle three
quarters Of an inch long. DR.. Stewart
| opened the chest and sewed the heart
with continuous silk suture The area
became infected, but the patient recover
ed and died five years later of pull
monary tuberculosis.
One of the difficulties in heart sur
| gerry Is the formation of clots I'm the
wounds or In the heart itself These
are exceedingly dangerous because, If
swept into the circulation, the patient
| dies as If shot by bullet. There is
also the further difficulty of sewing
structure that is under constant mo-
/ ton. This calls for very tlpid, certain
| work
NOW SEW UP STAB WOUNDS.
Since sewing stab wounds Of the heart
has become general the mortality Is now
only SO per cent, as aglnst So per
cent. in 1861. The diagnosis is sometimes
difficult but In large st. Petersburg
hospital it was made in eleven out of
| twenty-one cases The operation con-
sists In enlarging of the wound in the
chest. removal of the underlying ribs
and. while the heart IS fixed by finger
| silk threads are passed through the
heart sac and heart muscle and tied. The
wound is then lightly packed with sterile
| gauze to secure drainage. The results
are some times striking in that no
irregular heart action or adhesions
cfsue
Another modern feat is amputation or u
portion of a lung. one year ago Sir Will
! liam MacEwen demonstrated case be-
fore the International Congress of Sur
! geons in London. which he had operated
upon Is years before At that time the
entire left lung had been removed for tu-
berculous disease. The man is now strong
| and healthy and Is at his work daily.
| 1t is entirely possible that in gunshot
| wounds of the chest the surgeon can go
In. tie off the bleeding areas and excise
! the destroyed portion of the lung. To do
| this will require that the lung be kept
! expanded by means Of positive insuffia-
! ton" That is carried out by passing a
tube into the wndplpe, attaching a bel
lows and Keeping up constant pressure
| OF ar SO that the luHEs 40 NOT coi'dPSe'
Blood TRANSMISSION is one of the most
important of all surgical measures in war
',''e. in'
.i'e ny
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re 60
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tor and an attornav and hone soon 70
have so,or,I o+bers"
Tho difficulties a++onding transmission are
most delicate and oxoct tocbnioue. New
or+bo,oss IN ,bo bords of IN axner+ lilo
DIR Carrel. II is a procedure capable of
saving innumerable lives.
Broken bones due to falls. snent shells,
etc. have cost many lives in former wars
Whereas the old-time surgery demanded
an infinite amount f time. patience, the
prolonged use of plaster of paris casts.
etc. we now have a method. thanks to
the eminent surgeon, Mr. Arbuthnot Lane
of London, by which We can "cut down
on the broken fragments and splice them
together by means of plates and screws.
The healing time is thereby very much
shortened and the results are far better
than by the old setting method.
Abdominal wounds are source or spe-
clal worry 10 the army surgeon. IL Is sun