Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-01
HOSPITAL USES
CURRENT TO CURE
LOBAR PNEUMONIA
st. EIizaheth's Physicians
See Remarkable Results
From Heat in Body.
TREATMENT LACKS
SENSATION TO SKIN
Thousands of Lives Annually May
Be Saved by Electrical Proc
ess Now Applied.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


An electrical treatment for lobar
pneumonia which is almost a specific,
promising to save many thousands of
lives annually, when it is taken up by
general hospitals and practicing physi-
clans, is being applied at st. Elizabeth's
Hospital here.
While much less effective in bron-
chial pneumonia, the results with this
nlalady also have been remarkable.
The method, as described by DR.. Wat
son w. Eldridge of the hospital staff, is
to pass, through the chest, high fire.
quency alternating current at approx
1mately 100000 alterations a second,
using two large tinfoil plates on the
front and back. A voltage of about 70
is used
The object is to get heat inside the
body. Here the body acts as a resist
ance unit. All other methods of heat
therapy consist of applying heat on the
outside, which has very little effect on
the internal organs.
The patient feels no skin sensation,
the two electrodes against the skin re-
naming cold.
When a case of lobar pneumonia Is
treated within the first IL hours the re-
suit is only a trifle short of specific
that Is, cure in every case. Lobar pneu-
monia is the type which ordinarily, in
five to eleven days. comes to crisis,
when the patient dies or begins to re-
cover almost Immediately. It has a
very heavy death rate. The electrical
heat treatment, says Dr.. Eldredge, al
most at once breaks down the pneu-
monia process and stops the infection
The crisis comes within few hours, be-
fore the patients strength has been
depleted by the illness.
Crisis About Third Day.
Practically the same thing happens
with cases first treated after more than
IL hours, but then the breaking down
Of the pneumonia process is slower. The
crisis comes about the third day, instead
of waiting. as is ordinarily the case
until the fifth or eleventh day. Here
also the patient is much more likely to
recover, although there is more posi-
bility of fatal termination.
The beginning of lobar pneumonia is
so striking, it was explained, that the
greater percentage of cases are almost
sure to be in the hands of physicians
within IL hours. One moment the VIC
tim is perfectly well. Suddenly he Is
seized by chill lasting about 20 min
utes, after which high fever develops.
This hardly can happen to any one
without the victim knowing that some
bllulS ID SCA1Ouoly WAOh6 anu OAAeAb Az
had better see doctor at once.
Considerable success has been attained
with bronchial pneumonia, although
less striking than with the lobar type.
This, it was explained, may be due to
the fact that it is more gradual In its
onset and may continue for two or three
days before the patient realizes that he
is sick enough to require physician.
Used at War Hospitals.
The method used at st. Elizabeth's is
adapted from one devised by physio-
therapists and used in limited way
during the war at military hospitals.
For some reason it never has passed into
general practice. A similar method has
been used by DR.. George w. Grille In
the Lakeside Hospital at Cleveland, who
applied electrodes to cover the liver and
the lungs during serious surgical oper-
atoms to prevent the development OF
post-operative pneumonia.
The st. Elizabeth'S physicians, DR..
Eldridge explained, have been working
quietly with this electrical heat treat
rnent for several years, but have been
cautious about advancing claims for 1t.
The result has been that out OF total
Of approximately 200 lobar pneumonia
cases among the insane patients there
have been only a few deaths. Under
the constant observation Of the medical
staff, of course, it is unlikely that any
patient could have lobar pneumonia
for more than II hours without the
condition being observed Bronchial
pneumonia also would be caught up
quickly.
Rapidly Causes Doubt.
The very rapidity of the cures, 1t was
explained, has caused some doubts 10
be felt as TO whether some of the pa
tients really had pneumonia at all This
doubt is overcome by making x-ray ex-
aminations of the lungs before the
electrodes are applied.
The electrical heating method also
Is used but not with such notable sue
cess. in cases of muscular Inflammation
and in arthritis. The machine does not
raise the actual temperature OF the pa
tient, but only of the local area which
IL is desired to affect.
While the treatment cannot be de-
scribed as a specific, so long as 1t does
not produce exactly the same results
that is. cures-in every single case IL
Is about as near q specific as possible
without actually being one, st. Eliza
bett's physicians say. The remarkable
results here are expected eventually TO
extend the method into general prac-
tice, and possibly to make an enormous
reduction In the death rate caused by
one of the greatest scourges OF the