Treatment of Infected Wounds in the Hamster by Contact Application of Ultraviolet Rays

Abstract

With the hope of improving the methods for the treatment of infected wounds in surgical practice, a series of animal studies was undertaken with the Gosztonyi lamp. This instrument is designed to yield the maximum output of radiation in the range of short ultraviolet waves. It is claimed that 93% of the output of ultraviolet radiation is of a wavelength of 2537 Angstrom units, which is the optimum wavelength for bactericidal action as determined by various investigators. With the Gosztonyi instrument the ultraviolet radiation is delivered through small cold quartz applicators of various shapes and sizes which facilitate the application of the radiation by direct contact. This has an important advantage in the irradiation of infected cavities and wounds, because the efficacy of irradiation varies according to the inverse square law, that is, the quantity of radiation delivered to a given site is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the target for a point source. Another claim made for this instrument which has been corroborated in these studies is that no heat is generated in the applicator. The instrument was tested repeatedly throughout these studies and its temperature never varied from room temperature more than 3°C.

Before attempting to use this instrument in the treatment of patients, preliminary experimental studies were carried out on animals. As a first step in the investigation, the bactericidal efficacy of the instrument was tested by irradiation of cultures of colon bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus, and the Hay bacillus prepared on agar plates. Then the direct application of ultraviolet radiation to infected wounds by means of the Gosztonyi apparatus was carried out on a group of Syrian or golden hamsters. Fifty-five animals were selected for the experiments, and the studies were carried to completion on 44. Eleven animals were sacrificed to the preliminary attempts to determine the proper dosage of anesthetic and the most satisfactory organism for the production of infected wounds.