Evening star., 1937-10-29
NEW AID RESTORES
H|P-BREAK VICTIMS
Range-F Finder for Bones En-
abIeS Operation and
Early Recovery.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Staff Correspondent of The Star.

are nailed in place was described pe-
fore the American College of Surgeons
meeting here today.
The broken hip, it was explained, is
one of the most frequent forms OF
injury to the aged. The hip bone is
placed at such an angle that, once it
begins to get brittle, relatively slight
wrench is enough to fracture it. In
the past such an injury has forced the
victim to spend three or four months
almost motionless in bed. Only about
40 per cent, set and placed in casts in
the old-faShioned manner, have knit
In another 40 per cent the fractures
have failed to mend leaving the patti
ent permanent cripple. In 20 per
cent of cases the injury was followed
by death.
Under the new method, demonstrat-
ed at several clinics here, no cast is
used. A small incision is made in the
flesh Just over the fractured bone
Through this, when the bone is put
back in place, three nails are driven
One means of doing this is with ''di-
rection finder" demonstrated by DR.
G. C. Engel of Philadelphia, by means
of which the nails can be directed at
the proper angles.
Leg Can Be Moved.
In making the incision under which
the nails are driven care is taken to
cut no muscles. AS result the in
jured leg can be moved within four
hours after the operation The pa
tient can be placed in wheel chair
in 48 hours Within three or four
weeks it is possible for the victim to
walk on crutches without bearing any
weight on the injured limb, and in a
couple of months one can walk nat
urally.
The broken hip. it was stressed, long
has been a bugbear to the bone doc
tor because of the awkward position
and the frailty of the victims. 1t is
especially likely to happen to an old
person who slips over a rug on a
waxed floor or on the slippery surface
of a bath tub. The condition is not
often encountered in the young.
The nails usually are withdrawn
after about a month. In most cases
stainless steel nails are used. but q
new alloy of cobalt, chromium anC
molybdnum now has been introduced
which does not set up any electric cur
rents in the bone. Use of the nails
obviates the use of a cast of any kind
and makes it impossible for the hip
to be thrown out by any slight twist
When hips were placed in casts il
was impossible for patients to lie in
bed in a natural position and this in
turn increased the chances of death
Aid for Loose Jaws.
The injection of a salt made from
psillium seeds as a cure for "clunk-
ing Jaws" was described at another
bone clinic.
Loose jaw joints, it was explained,
constitute fairly common and en-
barrassing ailment The jaws go
"clunk, clunk, clunk" while the per-
son is talking or eating. 1t is quite
easy to throw them out of joint. The
pSillium salt injection produces low
grade Inflammation around the jaw
joints which succeeds in tightening
them up without any surgical proceed
ure. In the past there has been no
adequate treatment for the condition.
There are now 800 fatal acci-
dents in the United States annually
according TO a statement issued by
the College of Surgeons in connec-
ton with its symposium on industrial
medicine Contrary to general belief
the automobile is only the second most
serious offender Accidents in the
home account for $4,000 deaths,
against $1,000 traffic fatalities. Mis-
cellaneous accidents account for
about $4,000 lives and industrial mis-
haps for about $4,000.
Remarkable success in treating ad-
vanced cases of dementia praecox with
q little-known drug which produces
artificial epileptic convulsions of great
severity has been achieved at the Uni
versity of Illinois Psychiatric Institute.
The drug is metrazol, a hydro
carbon compound first discovered in
Germany about 10 years ago and
since used with Indifferent success
as a heart stimulant following opera
tions. The convulSions caused by
overdoses led Hungarian physician
about two years ago to experiment
with its use in cases of schizophrenia,
or personality splits, which now con-
stitute the most prevalent form of
insanity and for which in the past
there has been almost no successful
treatment. 1t had been observed that
dementia praecox victims seldom
showed any symptoms of epilepsy,
and this observation has recently
been strikingly confirmed by the brain
wave patterns found in the two types
of insanity.
Used With Other Treatments.
The metrazol treatment comes close
on the heels of the so-called insulin
shock treatment of schizophrenia,
which has proved the most successful
tried up to the present. In the Uni
versity of Illinois experiment it is
found that combination of the two
treatments, sometimes with still other
treatments, produces far better results
than either of them alone. This "ro-
tation" has resulted in the discharge
as cured very strict cri-
terion of cure-of nearly so per cent
of the subjects representing demen-
tia praecox in both early and ad-
vanced stages.
The inSulin shock, introduced from
Europe early this year, has proved
invaluable in the early stages of the
strange mental disease If victims
can be treated during the first six
months apparent cures can be brought
about in from SO to 80 per cent of
the cases. Where the disease is more
advanced the insulin, administered in
very heavy doses, has been found to
Noue little effprt