RT Journal
A1 MARTIN LW, FULTZ C
T1 USe of gastrostomy in pediatric surgery
JF A.M.A. Archives of Surgery
JO A.M.A. Archives of Surgery
YR 1959
FD June 1
VO 78
IS 6
SP 904
OP 907
DO 10.1001/archsurg.1959.04320060092012
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.1959.04320060092012
AB Present-day surgery has been perfected to a point where the mortality rate for most of the standard operations is practically nil, provided the patient is an adult in reasonably satisfactory physical condition. On the other hand, when the same type of operation is performed on newborn infants, the mortality figures frequently approach 50%. The infant differs from the adult in many ways: His physiology is different; his immunologic response is different; his disease is different; he frequently has other associated anomalies; he is smaller in size, and his nursing care must be much more constant and exacting. By reviewing the autopsy material and case histories and combining such information with the facts cited above, we are constantly modifying our surgical approach, to decrease further the operative mortality rate for this particular group of patients.Vomiting, with aspiration of gastric contents, is well known to be one of the major immediate