Camden Courier-Post - February 2, 1955

Operation Saves Baby Here With Ruptured Lumg

By WARNER OLIVER

A three month-old baby, now Virtually recovered, owes her life to a rare type at operation performed on her 10-days ago at
West Jersey Hospital.

The baby is Mary Crawford, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Crawford, of 1145 Cambridge Street.

A member of the surgery staff of West Jersey described the operation today:

The child was born with a cyst on her right lung. The cyst finally exploded and the tiny lung became ruptured in two places.

This result in the air inhaled into the lung passing out through the punctures into the space between the lung and the chest wall,
which ordinarily is a vacuum.

Pressure from the right side of the chest was thus brought to hear on the other side,tending to from the cavity between the lung as well as move the heart from its normal position.

The condition is a very painful and dangerous one and would have caused death. It resulted in the baby becoming cyanosed, and on five emergency occasions it was necessary to draw off the air from the cavity between the lung
and chest wall with a needle.

Later a tube was inserted into the, chest to draw off the air through a water trap, which acted as a valve.

This was an emergency measure only, and when it lost its efficacy, it became necessary to operate. 
The punctured portion of the lung was resected and the lung drawn together and sutured. It is
now fully healed, and the baby will go home within the next few days.

The operation made necessary by a ruptured cyst is one infrequently performed on adults. and rarely in surgical history has such an operation been performed on a baby.

HER LIFE SAVED by a rare Operation, three-month-old Mary Crawford cuddles contentedly in the arms of her mother, Mrs. John Crawford at their home. 1145 Cambridge Street. The baby’s lung was ruptured by an exploding cyét, but doctors saved her life with a delicate operation.