The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-05-16

NaAAN "ANAAAAA hAN Aa~N y va A III W
DR.. Clendening will answer
questions of general interest
only, and then onlyethrough
his column.
tai impression that remains from
examining all Of them is that war
does not teach very much that is
useful. In short to most of the
sensational announcements in the
the press of startling new i'm
provements in surgery brought
about by the war, may be applied
the old and cynical surgical
phrase-"Most Of .what is true is
not new, and most Of what is new
is not true"
The most valuable lessons which
have been applied in the present
conflict have been learned from the
extraordinary advance of indus
trial surgery between World War
! and World War II. And that i'm
provement has mostly been a mat.
Ter Of organization. Industrial
surgeons found that in any given
plant devoted to the manufacture
ing Of a given product. the chem
ical and manufacturing proce-
dures involved will result in a per-
centage rate of certain kinds of
accidents.
Their surgical plants are espe-
cially set up with apparatus to
treat the two or three kinds Of
accidents that experience has
taught them are the overwhelm-
ingly most common in their par
ticular plant. This ties in with
The other great lesson Of industrial
surgery which is that the sooner
proper surgery is applied to an
accident the better the results.
And they improve not in arithmet-
zeal, but in geometrical ratio.
No Substitute
The motto for the army doctor
is-"There is TO substitute for
good surgery" No trick method
or invention has elbowed that out
Of the picture.
The tree things that are new
and ave decided helps to reducing
mort1iLty and disability in this
VIZ are blood plasma, chemo-
therapv (by which | mean the
tlifa drugs and penicillin), and
the immediate rapid and comfort
able methods OF transporting the
wounded to a base where repair
surgery can. be applied at the SOON
est possible moment.
A we'll known surgeon has given
out the following rules;
Although it may not be possible
during rapid troop movements, ex-
pert wound care is more important
than chemotherapy.
The four horsemen Of destruc-
tion are: shock, haemorrhage, in
lection and pain.
The pillars Of treatment are:
good surgery. transfusions OF
blood or plasma, chemotherapy
and rapid transportation to the
installation where proper care can
be administered. In battle the last
includes air transport planes.
Five Greatest Discoveries
THE FIVE greatest discoveries OF
surgery are: asepsis, anaesthesia,
chemotherapy, X-ray and trans
fusions of blood and plasma.
Nature is a good physician, but
a poor surgeon.
A archaeological friend Of mine
was smiling somewhat cynically at
the news announcement Of the
brand new parafiin bath treatment
for frostbite. During his combat
experience in World War he him
self installed a paraffin bath room
for certain kinds Of wounds at his
case in Limoges, France. 1t is
good stuff all right in the proper
kinds of wounds, but it is a little
tough to tell a fellow who intro
duced it twenty-six years ago that
it is a brand new discovery.
Along the same lines is the an
nouncement from the Russian
medical corps Of another develop
ment' in the repair Of severed
nerves by splinting in dead nerve
between the two cut ends Of sew
cred nerve, and giving the, nerves
path to grow over and provide
means Of regeneration. II is all
right and works in some cases. but
the Russians didn't invent it. l
saw such an operation being per-
formed in New York in 1917.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
L. FL am a girl singer and
am very embarrassed by the
growth Of hair on my face. Is it
safe 10 have the hair removed by
the electric needle, and Will it
grow back again?
Answer: 1t is safe and the hair
does not grow back again.