The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-04-10
DOCTORS REMOVE AND
PARE BRAIN; MAN TALKS
NOT EVEN STRAPPED TO HOS
PITAL TABLE; I'm ALL
RIGHT" HE TOLD THEM.
HAD BEEN GIVEN UP TO DIE

Under Local Anesthetic, Who Re-
covers Rapidly. Patient Under the
Knife Two Hours.
NEW YORK, N. Y.-To have
portion of his skull removed four
inch tumor cut off and the skull bone
restored to place, and to be fully con-
scious all the time, able to answer
I'm all right" to the surgeons in
quiries as to whether it hurt was the
experience of Henry A. Brown at the
Beth Israel Hospital, 20 Jefferson
street, it was learned yesterday The
operation, wholly successful, is said to
be remarkable in medical history. On
ly local anaesthetic was applied
Immediately afterward the patient,
who had been suffering for year
from intense headaches, accompanied
by gradually increasing delirium and
partial coma, declared he felt great
relief from the pain. The operation
was performed on February Is. The
officials of the hospital made the facts
known yesterday as the patient had
completely recovered his faculties and
was already enjoying the comforts of
conva1escence at the Burke Founda-
ton in White Plains.
Operation Takes Two Hours.
DR.. K. Winfield Ney, assisted by DIR.
the Beth Israel Hospital, and DR..
1t lasted two hours.
Tho I,fa of fha Oof,a,H baA haao 10
SPARED of. His grave had been pur-
chased, and his family reconciled to
the fact that he could not live He is
married and has four children, living
at 81 Thirteenth street, Newark With
hope of his recovery under the usual
treatment entirely given up, the ply
sicians at the Beth Israel called in
DIR. Ney and consulted as to an oper-
alton. 1t was agreed that the general
condition of the patient was such that
he could not survive long period
under ether, but that an operation
under a local anaesthetic might pos
sibly be successful.
They put it to the patient himself.
Would he consent to the local anaes-
thetic? Would he submit willingly to
the operation while fully conscious.
Brown said he would take the chance.
So they placed him on the operating
table and did not even strap him
down. in order that he would retain
the consciousness that he was doing it
all of his own accord.
cit was not auto-suggestion," said
Louis ]. Frank, superintendent of the
hospital, explaining it yesterday, but
we knew that the chances of success
were much better if the patient were
cooperating of his own free will"
Talks During Operation.
Questions and little words of cheer
from the doctors accompanied the
operation.
Does this hurt?" the surgeon would
say.
mo, I'm all right" the patient
would answer. Or else ne would vince
and admit that he "fe1t it that time
"Well now, that's too bad. We need
a little more cocaine then" the doc
tor would say. There won't be any
more of that. We're almost through"
The technique of the operation, as
described by DIR. Frank was as fol-
lows:
'After the necessary skin incision
was made number of holes were
bored into the skull. The holes were
connected, and the bone and overlay-
ing structures were turned down. The
dura, or covering of the brain, was in
cised. The tumor was visualized and
then carefully incised.
Part of the Brain Lost.
at was necessary to sacrifice the
anterior portion OF the frontal lobe
of the brain, but this will not affect
the mentality of the patient After this
the osteo plastic flap was turned back
and the scalp sutured. The tumor
which was removed was inches long
and inches wide and quarters
of an inch thick. 1t was of the benign
type and self-contained Great care
was exercised during this entire pro-
cedure. No unnecessary manipulation
OF any OF the vital structures was per-
formed"
DR.. Ney, who performed the opera
ton, had wide experience during the
war in the removal of shrapnel from
the skull of soldiers under local anaes-
thetics. Since then he has advocat-
ed the use of local anaesthetic for
brain surgery.
The operation he performed at the
Beth Israel is not the first of its kind,
though the tumor removed was I'm
usually large.