Crampton Test and Surgical Shock, By John H. Irwin, 1935
Description:
This academic article is reprinted from the Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey, and was originally published in 1935 by John H. Irwin, M.D., attending surgeon at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, N.J. Irwin's article describes the efficacy of predicting post-operative shock with the Crampton Test. The Crampton Test, developed by Charles Ward Crampton (May 26, 1877 - 1964), evaluates "the gravity resisting ability" of circulation using a sphygmomanometer. It represents an index which is high in persons exhibiting sound health and low in persons exhibiting poor health. The second page has three charts. The first compares heart rate to blood pressure when the patient is standing and lying down. The second lists the total number of cases by type of surgery. The final chart is an analysis of deaths by cause, surgery, Crampton Value, age, and time between surgery and death. The article concludes that the Crampton Test will, most times, successfully predict patients who are likely to die of post-operative shock. With this conclusion, he advises doctors to use digitalis to increase their patient's Crampton Value and to forgo surgery if the value remains low. The text ends on page three, with page four showing the fifth chart and a brief list of references. The fifth chart examines typical cases not digitalized before operations, lists the operations themselves, the Crampton Value of the patients, and the results. Crampton first described his test in an article titled "Blood Ptosis: A Test of Vasomotor Efficiency," published in the New York Medical Journal. The Crampton Test was excluded from Guy Montrose Whipple's 1910 "Manual of Mental and Physical Tests," replaced in this volume by the spirometer test. For a biography of C. Ward Crampton, see: https://springfield.as.atlas-sys.com/agents/people/551. There are two duplicates (ms510-01-b-02-10-015, ms510-01-b-02-10-016). The first two (014, 015) are more fragile than the third. All three have horizontal creases from having been folded in half as well as thirds. 014 is less faded than the other two, but all show some wear. Across the top of 014 are the words: "Please return to C. Ward Crampton, M.D. 1035 Park Avenue, NY 28."
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