by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Harvey E. Billig Jr. provides new treatment for paralysis, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Harvey E. Billig Jr., of the Medical Corps, uses a hand rivet gun on the foot of a patient. Official Caption: "Rome, 7/24/45--New treatment for paralysis--U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Harvey E. Billig Jr., of the Medical Corps uses a hand rivet gun on the foot of a patient suffering from the after-effects of poliomyelitis. Commander Billig and Dr. A. Van Harreveld, a Physiologist of the California Institute of Technology, developed the technique called Neurotripsy or nerve interruption. The patient is placed under anesthesia and the rivet gun is applied to the affected muscles, kneading them thoroughly. Improvement in muscle use has been noted in 300 cases in which it has been used.--Wide World Photo through Rome OWI--approved by appropriate military authority (A Lsit Out). 7185."”Location unknown. 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.184
Date: 
07/24/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Medical procedures & techniques
Physicians--American
Nurses--American
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Medical procedures & techniques
Physicians--American
Nurses--American