Show L LIFE MINUSASTIJMACII A I Brilliant ana Daring Feat in Surgical V Sur-gical Practice I POSSIBILITIES OF SCIENCE I PROOF THAT TH STOMACH IS I NOT A VITAL OBGAN Operation Performed I Switzerland By Dr Carl Schlatter On n Woman Wom-an 56 Years of Age What a Diagnosis Di-agnosis Hevealed Operation Described De-scribed Patient Now Well New York Dee 24The Medical Record will tomorrow publish the following fol-lowing account of the first success of the removal of a human stomach The feat itself is the most brilliant and daring ever attempted in recent surgical history but the attendant discovery dis-covery that the stomach is not a vital organ is even more important Heretofore it has been considered utterly ut-terly impossible to live without a stomach With the fall of this long recognized axiom the old theories of medicine and surgery may be entirely changed and the field of possibilities which the discovery is opens up practically prac-tically limitless DIAGNOSIS The operation which has so startled the medic world was performed in Zurich Switzerland by Dr Carl Schlatter on Sept 6 last The subject sub-ject was Anna Landis 56 years of age and a silk weaver This woman had complained for years of stomach trouble Dr Schlatter diagnosed the case and found that she was suffering from an exceptionally large oval tumor tu-mor in her stomach Laporotomy was performed and Dr Schlatter found that the womans outer stomach presented pre-sented a hard mass Then this daring operator seeing that the organ was useless went to work and freed it from its delicate attachments cutting twisting twist-Ing and clamping among the most vital organs with the coolness and deliberation delibera-tion of an expert dentist drawing a hard tooth The technical details of the operation can only be appreciated by members of the medical profession JOINED THE INTESTINES When Dr Schlatter had excised the entire stomach he firmly united a small con of intestine to the aesoph agus thus making a direct connection between the alimentary canal and the bowels The work of joining the intestine V in-testine and the aesophagus was most delicate They were bound together with sutures The organs were allowed al-lowed to drop back into their positions the abdominal wound was sewed up and all there was to show that Anna Landis had lost her stomach was a slight retraction toward the diaphragm The operation lasted nearly two hours and a half The loss of blood was slisrit The period following showed that the sterilization was perfect and the operation wonderfully performed The patient although old and feeble exhibited ex-hibited but few of the serious symp toms that usually follow a vital operation opera-tion Minute quantities of liquid food were given to her at short intervals With the exception of occasional vomiting 1 vomit-ing this food seemed to be assimil ated despite the absence of a food receptacle i re-ceptacle I RETAINED FOOD The second week after the operation she was given solid food I was retained re-tained and digested without discomfort discom-fort And even Dr Schlatter himself marveled at the almost unexpected success suc-cess of his bold work He was handicapped handi-capped in giving the patient solid food because she only had one tooth left in her head On Oct 1 a month and five days after af-ter the stomach had been removed Anna Landis left her bed By Nov 1 she was feeling perfectly well and I was walking about Her weight increased I in-creased and apparently she was in far better health than before the operation Dr Edmund Charles Wendt of New York City the correspondent of the Medical Record who obtained Dr Schlatters personal account of the feat states that on the 9th of this month I he saw Anna Landis and that to all I intents and purposes she is a well woman wo-man She is still under observation at the Eurich county hospital but is able to do her full share of work in the wards She has had many medical vhdtors from all quarters of the globe h and by this time has grown quite proud t of her depleted body NOT A VITAL ORGAN Dr Wendt concludes from the operation oper-ation that the human stomach is not a I vitai organ that the digestive capacity of the stomach ha been considerably overrated that a gain in weight make ma-ke place despite the absence of gastric gas-tric activity that vomiting may occur without a stomach and that the chemical chem-ical functions of the human stomach can be satisfactorily performed by the other divisions of the alimentary V canal Commenting upon all these things the Medical Record editorially will say V Whatever we may venture pro or con on the question at issue the fact appears to be proven that the human t subject can live and be reasonably active V ac-tive for months without anjy stomach whatever and obtain all the necessary digestion and nourishment from what remains of the intestinal tract Is it po = ble that the latter may have anew i a-new set of functions not yet known or f has the importance of stomach diges t and overrated tion been misapprehended ed In any event we are now brought V face to face with a very curious demonstration demon-stration whic destroyed the validity t of many preconceived opinions and in a great measure nullifies the results of experiments many previous In the matter of a brilliant achievement I achieve-ment the operation takes first rank and the daring and brilliant surgeon will receive the well deserved congratulations I i congrat-ulations of his peers throughout the world He has opened the first chapter t Jn a new history of surgical triumphs |