THE ELECTROCARDIOGRAM AND BLOOD PRESSURE DURING SURGICAL OPERATION AND CONVALESCENCE

Abstract

The influence of preoperative digitalization on the incidence of post-operative complications and deaths due to "circulatory failure" is a matter of considerable interest to most surgeons, but one which has apparently received little systematic investigation. A number of observers advocate the routine employment of the drug in certain types of cases or operations, and feel that it is of undoubted value. Thus, Lilienthal,¹in discussing resection of the lung for suppurative infections, says: With or without sepsis, it is the power of the heart to adapt itself which is perhaps the greatest factor in determining resistance. While this is practically so in all surgery, it appears to be more striking in resection of the infected lung . . . In any event, digitalization should be accomplished in the forty-eight hours preceding operation. Similarly, Thomas,²in his discussion of the factors responsible for mortality after prostatectomy, says: For years I have