Dr Samuel Matthias Curl alias Dr Alan Carroll.

Samuel Matthias Curl was the first medical practitioner in Tawa commencing practice there in 1855. He moved to the Rangitikei district in 1862 and practised there until 1887 when he eloped to Sydney with Annie Douglas. Besides practising medicine in New Zealand he farmed in both areas, was noted for his agricultural research and his work on several committees. In Sydney he assumed the name of Dr Alan Carroll and worked as an anthropologist and child health adviser. He died on the 17 April 1911 and left his estate in trust to establish two scientific bequests.

Screening for malignant hyperthermia susceptibility.

In vitro pharmacological testing of isolated muscle strips surgically removed under general anaesthesia from 10 members of a known MH family enabled identification of three MH positive individuals. Diagnosis of MH susceptibility was based on increased sensitivity to low concentrations of caffeine and the presence of halothane-induced contractures in MH susceptible muscle. Dantrolene sodium 15 mg/l completely prevented halothane-induced contractures in two muscle strips from one of the MH positive cases. The successful anaesthetic management of known MH patients is described, as is the successful management of a hyperthermic episode during recovery in one of the MH positive cases.

Preoperative haemoglobin levels.

It is a common practice in many anaesthetic centres throughout the world to require a minimum preoperative haemoglobin level of 10g/100 ml of blood or more, but very few references are quoted by writers on this subject. A search of relevant medical literature has been made in an attempt to establish the origin and significance of the preoperative haemoglobin requirements recommended.

The effect of local hypothermia on blood loss during transurethral resection of the prostate.

A prospective trial to investigate the effect of using cold irrigating solution during transurethral resection of the prostate was carried out. A control group of 44 patients was resected using irrigant at room temperature, and a trial group of 49 cases was resected using irrigant cooled to 2 degrees C. Blood loss during surgery was measured to see whether the cold irrigating solution had any effect on this loss. There was a small reduction in blood loss in the cold group, but this reduction was not statistically significant (0.5 greater than P greater than 0.3).

Body temperature changes during transurethral prostatectomy.

A prospective trial was made to investigate the effects of cold irrigating solutions on body temperatures during transurethral resection of the prostate. In a control group of 45 cases, when the irrigating fluids had a mean temperature of 21.9 degree C, there was a significant fall in body temperature from 36 +/- 0.6 degree C to 34.9 +/- 0.7 degree C. In test group A to 48 cases, when the irrigating fluids had a mean temperature of 4.96 degree C, there was a significant fall in body temperature from 36.1 +/- 0.6 degree C to 34.8 +/- 0.9 degree C. In test group B (five cases) when the irrigating fluids had a mean temperature of 10.2 degree C there was a significant fall in body temperature from 36.0 +/- 0.4 to 34.6 +/- 0.8. Comparative analyses between the control group and test group A did not show significant differences in the degrees of cooling in the two groups.