The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-12-04
Your Health
tuberculosis of
Lung Treatment
Now Surgical
BY uossn e,ert, ming. NJ. o.

BY uo3sn Gent, ming. NJ. o.
WE ARE fighting many wars.
Man has always been waglng war
on the diseases which affi.ct him
and still is But whereas in form
er days he fought blindly and
without organization. our modern
campaigns against disease show
DR.. Clendening will answer
questions Of general interest
only, and then only through
his column.
planning and worldwide front.
None OF tie campaigns IL bet
ter organized shan the one against
tuberculosis, few have achieved
more success or have better pros
poets. You are not taxed directly
for this war, but you have the OPP
portunity 10 contribute by the pur-
chase. of the Christmas seals sold
BY the National tuberculosis As
ISOLATION.
Our knowledge Of the cause.
diagnosis and treatment OF tuber-
culosis has evolved slowly. In
many respects present beliefs are
very different from what they
formerly were. In my early days
Of practice, thirty odd years ago,
diagnosis depended upon skill in
listening to the chest with the
stethoscope and finding the germs
IN the sputum under the micro
scope. Treatment was by rest,
fresh air and extra feelings.
Nowadays diagnosis is largely by
x-ray. We know that - the only
way to catch any large number Of
positive cases.
Treatment Largely Surgical
Treatment Of tuberculosis Of the
lungs today Is largely surgical.
Under the old system Of rest, fresh
air and extra feeding. the patient
all too often made only a specious
recovery. HeIncreased in weight,
he lost his fatigue and mis- cough,
but when he resumed activity the
cavities in his lungs opened up
again and he once more broke
down.
As long ago as 1882 Forlanin,
an Italian physician, advocated
that air be introduced around the
lungs, pus squeezed out and the
cavities fattcned. But 1t was not
until 80 years later that the meth
od was used at all generally. Now
il is used in every clinic and tuber-
culosis hospital known to me. The
method is called artificial pneumo-
thoraN.
The principle Of the treatment
is simply a drastic application OF
the old principle Of rest. We used
to put the tuberculous patient to
bed because in bed ne took four to
ten less breaths per minute than
when he was up and around. The
Of his lung were ar
rested Just so much. But with air
put in the chest around the out
side Of the lung under pressure
the lung is squeezed down and &C
tually put at rest. The walls Of
cavities meshed together so that
scar tissue is formed and the cav
ity disappears.
Results Much Better
The treatment has to be con-
tinued and kept up for several
years, but the results are much
better than those which were OBJ
tanned by the old system Of bed
rest and fresh air alone. Although.
OF course, We still continue to sup
plement this treatment by years
bed rest, IN fresh air with SUI
tcient, but not extra, feeding.
Sometimes. on account of ad-
heslons the lung will not collapse
under air pressure alone. In that
case surgical procedures are in
stItuted which contemplate col
lapse Of one entire chest wall.
At any rate it can be said that
the present treatment of tuber-
culosis OF the lung is largely sur
gical.