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Concentration Camp Dachau
The Camp Physician
Dachau 16 December 1943
To: SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Rascher
Dachau
“Polygal 10” was used for 2 herniotomies. The patients were men of 35 and 42 years of age, respectively. In both cases the tablets were administered to the patients 40 minutes before the operation. Blood pressure before the operation was 135/80 in the case of the 35-year-old patient and 145/80 in the case of the 42-year-old patient. Both patients tolerated “polygal 10” without complaint, nor were there any unpleasant accompanying symptoms in the stomach.
It is to be said of the operation itself that the loss of blood was conspicuously slight in both cases. As in the case of all preceding operations where “polygal 10” had been administered, it was only necessary in this case, to cut off the bleeding from the vessels. In the first case, that of the 35-year-old patient, stronger bleeding from the subcutaneous tissues occurred after the skin had been cut, which, however, was stopped by mere wiping, so that in this case the application of clips to the subcutaneous tissues was unnecessary. Only after cutting the cremaster was it necessary to apply some ligatures, because then some smaller vessels were pierced. During the further course of the operation, i. e., the separation of the hernial sac from the funiculus spermaticus (it was an indirect inguinal hernia), several spots bled in the beginning, but bleeding came to a standstill at once and the use of ligatures was superfluous.
The same observations were made in the second case, the case of the 42-year-old patient. Hemostasis by application of ligatures was necessary in only a few spots, and this was always in those places where vessels had been injured during the operation. The favorable effect of “polygal 10” in surgical operations consists not only in its causing slight bleeding and preventing great loss of blood, but also in that it makes possible considerably faster operations, because the applications of clips and later ligatures always takes up a certain time, which can be saved by the use of “polygal 10.”