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Show Brain Surgeons I Flout Tradition Army Doctors Wipe Outj Fear, Mystery That Once Attended Surgery. DENVER. Equippod with the latest instruments and trained in 'latest methods, a staff of army doctors doc-tors is engaged these days in wiping ' out the mystery and fear that traditionally tra-ditionally has surrounded surgical operations on the human brain and nervous system. Their patients are soldiers who - come from training camps and battlefields bat-tlefields by plane, train and ambulance ambu-lance to this largest army medical med-ical center in the nation, Fitzsimons hospital. Some have brain tumors, others spinal injuries, and even more have suffered paralyzing wounds which have severed nerve channels or caused pressure on the brain. Many of them cannot walk, see or hear, , and others show symptoms of insanity, in-sanity, so great is their pain or the ' effect of their wounds. "We use common sense surgical practices on these men," said Maj. J. M. Cameron, surgeon in charge of the neurosurgical section of the giant hospital. "There is little difference dif-ference between an operation to remove re-move a tumor on the brain and one ' to remove a tumor elsewhere in the body. Often the brain operation is more simple." t Locating the Trouble. The first step in treating a patient , with a brain injury is the exact location loca-tion of the trouble. Sometimes tu-, tu-, mors, abscesses and brain lesions are located by ordinary X-ray photographs. pho-tographs. Sometimes it 'is necessary neces-sary to introduce air into the spinal , canal and brain ventricle before taking tak-ing the "pictures." Another amazing new device is the electro-encephalograph, which is 1 so sensitive it receives the tiny impulses im-pulses of electrical energy given off by the brain, magnifies -them and shows them as a series of wavy ' lines on a chart. Variations in the lines disclose the nature of the trou-: trou-: ble and its location to the trained f scientist-surgeon. Next comes the actual operation. Pieces of broken bone are cut away and replaced with plastic lucite. . Pressure is relieved by skillful removal re-moval and insertion of bones. Tu- mors are cut away with knives which use electric sparks instead ot : steel as their cutting edge. , One soldier came to Fitzsimons with his leg completely paralyzed ; the sciatic nerve had been cut when : Jap bombers strafed Pearl' Harbor. ' Doctors formerly would have ampu-. ampu-. tated today they brought the nerve ends back together. But it was not ' possible to stretch the nerve cables I too much. ! Three Operations Made. 1 Three operations were necessary, f Each time the nerve ends were brought closer together and the youth waited until the stretched po-f po-f sition became the normal position for the nerve. Finally the nerve ' ends were linked, the coverings oi ! the nerve cables were sewed together togeth-er with tantalum wire, thinner than a hair. Then the nerve fibers grew together, and the soldier will be ! walking again within a short time. I The recuperation period comes , next and Major Cameron disclosed that a revolutionary new method ' was discovered as an indirect result ; of the Battle of Britain, j Formerly it had been thought a , patient should lie in bed for a long time after a brain operation. But ' during the German raids on London, ' hospitals were so crowded that pa-' pa-' tients had to leave their beds within ' two or three days after an operation I to make way for others. It soon ' was found that the patients who ' were forced to sit up and walk 1 around recovered more rapidly than I those who remained in bed. I "The answer is simple," said Ma-' Ma-' jor Cameron. "The injured brain J heals better in its normal position, the position where blood supplies J reach the various parts in a normal j way and there is no unnatural pres- sure on the brain as a result of be-i be-i ing in one position for a long time." |