The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1917-02-15
SURGEON CURED
OF SEPT|CAEMIA
Receivers Completely After Under
going Nine Operations for
Blood TRANSMISSION.
CASE WAS THOUGHT HOPELESS
Contracted Blood Poisoning While Per-
forming an Operation-Most Re-
markabIe Case Ever Treat
ed in This Country.

New York.-Made victim OF
septicaemia while performing sur
gical operation two months ago, DIR.
Albert Pitts of Plainfeld, n. j., whose
case was considered hopeless a few
| weeks later, has recovered completely
as the result of undergoing nine OPP
erations for blood TRANSMISSION. Each
operation was performed by DR.. Ed
ward Lindeman of New York, who used
a method of TRANSMISSION which he de-
vised four years ago.
The recovery of the young surgeon
Is not only unusual, but physicians
say the case is one of the most re-
markable of it's kind ever treated in
| this country. After physicians had
given up hope of recovery Doctor Lin
deman was summoned to the Mullen
berg hospital, Plaintield, where Doctor
Pitts was patient.
Eight Quarts Of Blood Furnished.
After q consultation it was decided
that Doctor Lindeman begin his opera
lions. Eight quarts of blood were fur
nished for the operations by Miss Con-
stance Pitts and Betram Pitts, sister
and brother of the patient, and four
members of the local fire department.
Doctor Lindeman's method embodies
the use of arterial syringes and elm
mates the necessity of making an In
cision over the vein in either the donor
of the blood or the recipient. By means
of especially devised telescoping tubes
of platinum he pierces the vein, MAX
ing a hole about the size of an or
binary needle point. This primary hole
is then dilated until of such size as to
permit an unobstructed flow. @
Forty-eight hours after the first
TRANSMISSION Doctor Pitts showed inn
provement, although he still was un
conscious, as he had been for some
time. Consciousness returned to the
patient after several operations two
weeks later, but his mind was not yet
clear. Doctor Pitts steadily responded
to the treatment and finally his tenn
perature became normal and his min6
clear.
Pricks Skin While Operating.
I The poison. which had circulated
through the whole body, was exactly
like that Of the patient Doctor Pitts
had been operating on when he be
came infected. Doctor Pitts patient
had been suffering from septicaemia
too, and while using his instruments
the skin between his fingers was
pricked. The condition of the hand
soon became so alarming that Doctor
Pitts went to the Muhlenberg hospital
for treatment. 1t was said that when
he first underwent treatment by the
Lindeman method he was closer te
death than any other patient who had
been operated on by Doctor Lindeman
for the same disease and who had re.
covered.
Doctor Pitts has left the Mullen.
berg hospital, after having been under
Doctor Lindeman's treatment for q
month. Fully recovered, he will be
able to resume his practice as a sur.
geon at any time he wishes. However
he is contemplating a trip to the South
before going in for hard work. Most
of his work is among the poor of Plain.
field, where he is surgeon at a dis
pensary.
Within the last two weeks Doctor
Pitts was compelled to undergo am
putation of finger on his right hand,
as the bone had become damaged by
the cut made by surgical instruments.
Otherwise he is in normal condition.