Treatment
The Glen Lake Sanatorium was constructed on the Trudeau Sanatorium model, established at the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium in Saranac Lake, New York by Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau. The fresh-air-and-bed-rest treatment of tuberculous patients often meant open windows, even during Minnesota winters. Sun therapy, called heliotherapy, was the other essential element of early treatment at Glen Lake. The 1921 Administration building and East and West Wings featured "deck houses" or uncovered porches running the entire length of the buildings' top floors. Patients would lie in beds entirely exposed to the sun's rays, wearing minimal clothing. Patients' rooms on other floors had floor-to-ceiling triple-hung windows that would slide up and allow beds to be wheeled onto small porches.
In 1922, Glen Lake Sanatorium doctors first adopted and performed a surgical procedure known as artificial pneumothorax, which collapsed the lung affected by pulmonary tuberculosis. Collapse inhibited the proliferation of tubercle bacilli and stimulated the formation of scar tissue that controlled the disease. Another method, called extrapleural thoracoplasty, involved removal of portions of several ribs to collapse the chest wall. Phrenic nerve interruption was introduced to Glen Lake in 1924. This paralysis of the diaphragm reduced movement of the affected lung.
The collapse era was followed by chemotherapy. Streptomycin, a World War II development, was readily available by 1949. Isoniazid came into use in 1952 and, together with streptomycin, shortened patient stays from years to months.
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