TIME
The familiar joke about the woman who went through so many operations that she asked for a zipper closure last week seemed about to become a reality. A Chicago man was having his abdomen kept open for weeks to permit surgeons gradually to cauterize a cancer in his stomach. Surgeons sewed the edges of the slit stomach to the edges of the slit abdomen. Then they fastened a section of zipper along each edge of the compound slit by means of adhesive tape. Now to close the abdominal hole until time for the next cauterization, the operator simply pulls the zipper fastener.
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