New Britain herald., 1923-03-23

neat uit therapeutic agent.
"The use of heat in the treatment
OF pneumonia" said DIR. Nattrass, ''is
very old. Mustard plasters and SINH
lar means OF producing heat have
saved the lives of many pneumonia
patients. but that kind of thing is in
efficient In getting heat Inside the
lungs.
1.-THE diathermic treatment used by
DR.. Stewart introduces heat deep into
the lungs without burning the sur
face. The current which flows through
the entire body applies the heat
where 1t Is needed, but does not burn
che skin or cause any intense fever
throughout the body. II Is not
known just how high the temperature
is raised inside the lungs. but sDr.
Stewart told me that, In experiments
on dogs. the temperature of the lungs
was found to be increased to lis de-
grees.
THE effect on the congestion seems
to be similar to that OF melting down
gelatin. At any rate. q few treat
ments seem to cause rapid clearing
up of the trouble. The heavy breath
ing subsidies. The. blueness OF the pa
tient disappears, indicating that his
lungs are able to absorb greater guam
titles of oxygen.
"The treatments last twenty min
utes and are given twice day. An
improved technique has been devel-
oped since DR.. Stewart treated the
first series Of eases at the Marine hos
pital. The current is increased slow
ly for the first five minutes to. the
maximum, then 1t is allowed to re-
main at the Level for ten minutes and
then 1t Is gradually decreased. A
careful technique is required for its
use. In patients treated this way the
fewer gradually disappears. There is
no sudden drop in temperature such
as comes with the crisis in pneu-
nionia treated in the regular fashion.
For Extreme Cases.
This treatment, which was intro
duced here by DR.. Broeser, is only
used In extreme cases. The light at
tack Of pneumonia can take care of
itself fairly well. In some cases treat
ed over here the patient was appar-
emily In very bad way before he
received the treatment.
1.-THE first two treatments usually
have no marked effect on the course
of the disease. The next two, how
ever, seem to have an extremely bene-
fetal effect, and further treatments
may be unnecessary. One patient re-
quired eight treatments.
sWThoro io ~ oiaofx;o,v ol2o1- ,
patient sometimes complains of the
sensation of heat, and it is necessary
to regulate the amount of current ac-
cording to the different types of pa
tients. The effect is apparently a.
dilation of the blood vessels of the
lungs. with a melting or. relief of the
congestion. So far no patient treated
by this process over here has been
lost"
Further information about the dia-
thermic treatment was furnished by
DR.. Joseph Londrigan of Hoboken,
who said:
1.-THE electric plates are about IN
by inches in area, and are built to
the chesA mes scan be attached to
the ordinary electric light socket.
THE patient is first prepared by
lathering the chest with ordinary
shaving soap, softhat the skin is not
in direct contact with the metal of
the platesa1 This prevents any blister
ing of the skin, though now and then
an air bubble In the lather depsives
a tiny patch of the skin of this pro-
lection. When the plate comes with
In O certain fraction of an inch of the
skin an electric spark may result.
This occurs now and then, but has no
ill-effect beyond raising slight Bills
ter. The patient lies on his side, and
the applicators are usually. held in
place by Turkish towels. l have seen
enough of this treatment to recon-
mend it very highly"
DR.. c. H. Lavinder of the public
health service, who is in charge Of
the Marine hospital on Staten Island,
said:
'Dr. Stewart OF Yale sought per-