The Annals of Internal Medicine will announce this month a very important advance in internal medicine, the result of work carried on in the research laboratories of the Beth Israel Hospital of Boston. The report will tell the result of thirteen operations performed by Dr. David Berlin and Dr. Herman L. Blumgart, director of research at the Beth Israel. The operations were not performed upon the heart itself, nor does the operation actually alter the abnormal condition of the heart, but effects, by complete removal of the thyroid gland, a major decrease in the heart load.
The report in the Annals of Internal Medicine will be under the signatures of Drs. Berlin, Blumgart, Joseph Riseman and David Davis, all of the Beth Israel staff.
Private report of the success of the new technique has resulted in great response from surgeons in this country and even an inquiry from England, it is learned. In addition to Beth Israel it has been performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Peter Bent Brigham and elsewhere. It calls for extreme delicacy owing to the situation of the thyroid gland, closely surrounded by the recurrent laryngeal nerves in the lower throat which govern speech and breathing. Damage to these nerves may result in paralysis of vocal cords leading to grave complications.
The technique of complete removal of the thyroid gland is the contribution of Dr. David Berlin.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
