Evening star., 1937-06-05
EYE TREATMENTS
{. {. DESCRIBED HERE
Conditions Once "HopeIess''
Now Aided in Some Cases,
Session Told.
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY.


- The newly introduced treatments
Tor eye conditions hitherto often re-
Aultine in hopeless blindness were de-
,acribed before graduate opthalmolo-
gists from all over the country at
George Washington University Medi-
cal School yesterday.
One procedure. outlined by DR.. G.
Victor Simpson OF the George WASH
~ihgton faculty. consists simply in in
-iecting into the tissue Immediately
behind the eyeball of minute amounts
of the drug atropine sulphate, whose
function is to dilate blood vessels
and improve circulation.
"A rare but dramatic form of blind
ness Is that caused by an embolus.
or blood clot. in the central artery
of the retina. In an instant an eye
is completely blinded. The embolus
may be due to one of two causes-to
q bit of detached tissue getting into
the artery and causing blood to clot
around it or to the hardening of the
arteries due to a saline coating form
ing on the inside of the vessel with
4 rough surface around projections,
from which the blood clots.
50 Clot May Be Moved.
= The stropine sulphate injected into
the surrounding tissue "loosens up
the artery and, in a favorable case,
may enable the force of the blood
stream itself to push the clot ahead
st1to one of the smaller vessels Of
the retina, where it will do no harm
and eventually will disintegrate.
Some striking successes were report
ed in getting rid Of emboluses due
to the first cause. Hitherto the only
means OF dealing with them has been
by 4 rather complicated surgical op-
Grafton. which seldom resulted sue
cessfully. A much less favorable effect
can be expected In treating clots due
since the basic cause cannot be re-
moved, and even If the embolus is
pushed out Of the way it is likely to
form again. However, the drug does
improve the accessory blood supply to
the retina, which results in At least
temporary benefit.
The atropine treatment, Dr. simp-
son said, flrst was introduced about
rs years ago by An European opthal-
mologist, but attracted no attention
Until it was taken up recently by
Dr.. sprfngovitch. = Russian woman
eye doctor, whose remarkable sue
cesses with nearly SO cases attracted
the attention OF American specialists
---- Besides retinal blood clots the
Treatment has been found to have
good effects in cases Of atrophy OF
sthe optic nerve from any cause. retro
.bulbar nexitis resulting from grain
salcohol and tobacco and the hitherto
sAlmost hopeless blindness which wa.
drought about 50 often during the
sprohibition era by wood alcohol
8 Treatment of Ketina Detachment-
Il The other new treatment, described
10y DR.. Daniel 3. Kirby of New York
City, was for the partial blindness
sresultins from detachment Of ths
4Eettna. The retiua Is the thin hyel
4pf nerve tissue near the back Of tn.
teyeball which serves in vision lik,
ffhe Photographic film in taking pic
Aures. 1t il somewhat like the skin
OF an ess underlying the shell. ~
Behind the retina is the so-callet
"choroid," which furnishes it with
its blood supply. and the "sclera." Of
envelope of the eye. The retina lie
in close contact with the choroid
For years eye specialists have notec
. condition where fluid got between
the retina and the choroid with tn,
result that a portion OF the nerv,
center OF the eye and, deprived o.
it, nourishment, tended to desen.
crate. Blindness in that part of thl
eye always resulted.
The common procedure in the pas
has been to insert 4 needle into tn,
back Of the eye and drain of tn,
fluid. 1t was found that it invariAbl,
came back again, so that there wa.
no permanent Improvement. Onl.
very recently, It was explained to th
opthaln1oloeists today tine cause wa
discovered to be hole in tine retina
due to some old Inflammation whicl
had weakened the tissue Throu2l
this hole the water fluid OF the in
terror OF the eye was continuous
seeptng.
Fluid Drawn Of.
In the treatment described BY Dr.
Kirby the fluid Is first drawn OF
and then the exact position of tn
retinal hole is located. The mex
step is to determine the exact are
OF the sclera. which normally woul
lie directly behind and contiguous t
this hole" This spot is then iri
tated with an electric needle Al
inflammatio Of the everything choroi
results, and this ends in an adnesio,
OF the choroid to the retina. TIL
adhesion plugs the hole II is lik
riveting the two films Of eye tissu
together
Yesterday afternoon the opthal
mologlsts inspected the optical lab
oratories of the Bureau OF Standard,
This afternoon there viii be dem
onxtration of spectacle grinding an
design at the medical school by Dl