Fulguration and thermo-radiotherapy / by William Seaman Bainbridge ; and, Diathermy (Nagelschmidt) and electro-coagulation (Doyen) / by Worthington Seaton Russell.

  • William Seaman Bainbridge
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Fulguration and thermo-radiotherapy / by William Seaman Bainbridge ; and, Diathermy (Nagelschmidt) and electro-coagulation (Doyen) / by Worthington Seaton Russell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    technic, but upon its employment before there is an involvement of the neighboring glands or viscera. The advantages, as summed up by Nagelschmidt,* are as follows; “Electro-coagulation can be used in those tissues inaccessible to the knife; it destroys bacteria and their toxins; it is hemostatic; it favors elimination of cancer cells in the neighborhood, because of the lymphor- rhea; it prevents dissemination of cancer cells during the operation for the lymph, and blood vessels are coagulated; finally, it is not specific, and results depend upon correct technic.” The reports coming from abroad of the results obtained by the use of electro-coagulation seemed to be so encouraging that Dr. William Seamp Bainbridge, Surgeon to the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, during several trips abroad made an investigation of the method. The outcome has been the installation at the hospital of the apparatus as employed by Doyen. During the past summer the writer, while on a trip abroad, was invited by Doyen to inspect his hospital at Paris. Doyen’s collaborator. Dr. Bouchon, devoted much time to giving a demonstration of this method. The conditions treated were epithelioma of the tongue, car- cinoma of the body and cervix of the uterus and lympho-sarcoma of 1 the thigh. A ■^ort description of the technic might prove of interest. ] The epithelioma of the tongue, in an adult male, was extensive, i involving nearly half of the organ and extending far back to the base. ' The tongue was drawn forward by means of several silk ligatures j passed through it, and the buccal wall was kept away from the field of ] operation by means of Doyen’s wooden retractors, made especially for this purpose. The semi-insulated electrodes were used in order to limit the action to the area, and a current of 2000 ma. was allowed to pass. In from 2 to 3 minutes the temperature of, the part had reached the necessary degree of about 53° C., and the electrode was removed. The coagulated mass had a grayish color, and was firm and decidedly hot to the examining finger. Dr. Bouchon presented the case of lympho-sarcoma of the thigh for the purpose of demonstrating that, when properly used, the method is practically painless. The patient, a young man, submitted to the treat- ment without an anesthetic, either general or local, and appeared to feel no sensation other than that of heat, unless the skin was touched, and then, and then only, did he flinch. The treatment was continued for about 5 minutes, one ampere of current being used. In simple diathermy, two electrodes of large size are employed, and so placed on the surface of the body that the current passes through the part under treatment. Contact must be perfect,^ otherwise there may be sparking and consequent burning. The intensity of the current and the time of contact is not limited, since the sole object is the heating of the tissue without injury. The passage of the current through the body produces not only a *Travaux de la Deuxieme Conference Internationale pour 1 Etude du Cancer, Paris, 1910. *
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