Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 269, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1916 — OPERATION AIDS BACKWARD BOY [ARTICLE]

OPERATION AIDS BACKWARD BOY

MARVEL OF MODERN SURGERYORGAN REMOVED FROM NECK OF WOMAN PATIENTS IMPROVE VERY RAPIDLY Child Bad Become Mentally Deficient Because of Depresdor.—Now Can Speak Intelligently Brooklyn, N. Y.—Another marvel of modern surgery was performed in St. Mary’s Hospital, with every indication, of success. By.an opera! ci kro’wn as thyroidectomy the extrena ir. . 'al activity of a woman was lessened and the backward mind of a child was brought closer to the norm..!. The operation itself was comparatively simple. Briefly told, ‘it consisted of removing part of a goiter in the throat of the abnormal woman and inserting it in tlie-abdomihal wall of the subnormal child. The improvement in both cases was marked. The woman, who was about 32 'years - ol37"came from a veil to do family in Brooklyn. She had been suffering for some time from the. swelling of the throat known collc/quially as goiter. By physicians this is attributed to an enlargement of the thyroid gland just under the jaw. This gland is at present so doctors themselves say, but imperfectly comprehended by physicians, but they know enough of its functions to realize that it is one of most remarkable organs in the body. It is believed not only to govern the growth but to determine the mental and nervous development. Because excessive size of the patient’s thyroid gland, which is known technically as hyperthyroidism; the woman was in a highly sensitive state. She was neurotic, subject to fits- of hysteria, and was agitated by~ ‘the “lightest disturbance. Consequently She decided to go to St. Mary’s hospital, which had been particularly successful in the reduction of thyroidical affections. When she went there the chief operating surgeon decided that had an oppm-tuniiv not only of relieving the woman but of benefitting the little bop in whom he was interested. The youngster, who was 6 years old was the son of a prominent man in Virginia. He suffered from lack of secretions from the thyroid gland, which caused him to be mentally defective. His speech was limited and so indistinct as to be unintelligible, and though he apparently recognized his toys when they were held up before him, he could not name them. His parents were desirous of having the handicap removed, but though the operating surgeon had promised assistance, he had found only diseased thyroids among his patients until the woman applied at the hospital. Then henot ified the—lad’s- father, — who immediately brought his son here. An operation was decided upon by the doctors at St. Mary's eight hours after the boy’s arrival, which made his subsequent ;;< id showing all the more striking. He and the woman were placed on adjoining operating tables, with three surgeons in attendance and other physicians at the hospital watching the unique proceeding. —The-woman-was—giwn an injection of cocaine in her neck, while the child was put under a general anaesthetic, ether being administered. One lobe of the woman’s thyroid gland was then taken out and transplanted to the boy, being placed between the peritoneum, a membrane lining the abdominal cavity and the fascia, a connective tissue covering the vital organs. The operation was over in an hour and a half. The woman who had been conscious and talking freely to the doctors during the operation without feeling the slightest pafn recovered quickly. The strain on her mind was greatly diminished, and though not restored to normal sensibility qt once, physicians at rhe hospital felt when she was discharged it was only a question of time before her temperament wouTT be brought to "the happy medium.” Their chief- interest centered in the transformation so far wrought in the child. He came out of the effects of the ether without trouble and began to grow in intelligence. At the end of 15 days’ observation his clear utterance was in sharp contrast to his mumbling previously, and he could pronounce such difficult words for a ( youngster as “automobile” and “choo-] choo train.” As he left to return to Virginia with his father he delighted the nurses by speaking the words they i taught him, "Good-by, sweetheart.’’ | Operations of a kindred nature have . been performed a few times before, tut never with such favorable results ■ so far as known. The practice has been to insert the grafted thyroid Into the tibia, or shin bone, on the theory that it would take best there. But <•8 the gland is one of |he ductless variety and “takes” anywhere the staff at st. Mary ’ s deter mined to make the experiment of placing it near the intestines. When their data are more complete this psychological change accomplished by physical means will be published in the medical journals. |