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GOITRE CLINIC: NEW END HOSPITAL.
Report for the year ending 31st December, 1934.
By R. H. Swindells, M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S.(Edin.), Medical Superintendent,
New End Hospital.
The work of the unit during the year has been almost entirely surgical, and a
brief resume is subjoined :—
Number of operations in year 64
Number of patients operated on 54
Sex of patients Females 50
Males 4
Age range of patients 14 to 67 years
Patients requiring 2 operations 8
Patients requiring more than 2 operations 1
Preliminary ligature of vessels 5
Average time in hospital 26-6 days
Average time in hospital after operation 15-8 days
Anaesthesia employed—
Avertin—Gas and oxygen 59
Scopolamine—Morphine—Gas and oxygen 3
Morphine—Gas and oxygen. 1
Planocaine (local only) 1
Origin of patients—
County of London 35
Out-county cases 19
Deaths 4
The out-county cases came from the following areas :—
Cornwall 2 Warwickshire 1
Yorkshire 2 Essex ... 1
Lancashire 1 Gloucestershire 1
Bedfordshire 1 Middlesex 1
Cambridgeshire 1 Surrey ... 1
Hampshire 1 North Wales 1
Berkshire 1 South Wales 1
Northern Ireland 1
1 patient came from East Africa for operation.
1 „ „ „ India „ „
Of the deaths—
1 occurred 16 hours after operation (1 lobe only removed).
1 35
± ,, uir ,, ,, ,,
1 20
1 ,, 5 days ,, ,, from sudden cardiac failure in a patient
who was apparently progressing satisfactorily and in whom the wound
was well healed.
The surgeons concerned were Sir Thomas Dunhill (35 operations) and Mr.
Geoffrey Keynes (29 operations).
Appended are notes of some of the cases :—
The patient requiring more than two operations was a woman, aged 30, who came from Case reports.
Penzance. She had been ill 8 years and had been in bed for 15 weeks prior to coming into hospital.
The gland was very large, she had marked exophthalmos, her pulse on admission was 160, she
had lost weight considerably, tremor was present, she had difficulty in swallowing and complained
of diarrhoea.
She was prepared for operation (preliminary ligature of vessels) on 25.5.34 and avertin was
given—the pulse rate went up to 216 and the operation was postponed.
First operation on 8.6.34. Under morphine and scopolamine with local infiltration, the
superior vessels were ligated. Second operation on 22.6.34. The right lobe was removed.
Third operation on 6.7.34. The left inferior artery was ligated. Operation on the left lobe was
arranged for 20.7.34, but two hours before operation the patient became restless and the pulse
rose to 150. Operation was postponed.
(77) r