Evening star., 1950-03-29
New Techniques
Urged
.Coronary Toll
6. w. Professor Says
Tests on Animals
Show Great Promise

ooAo oAAC PASo 1o1 Vic use VI
aggressive surgical techniques,
which may reduce heavy death
rates of coronary heart disease VIC
tins. was made last night by a
prominent Washington surgeon.
Delivering Georgetown Univer-
sity's annual Kober Lecture, DR..
Brian Blades, professor of surgery
at the George Washington Univer-
sity Medical School, urged that
new techniques. which show great
promise in experimental animal
surgery, be applied to human pa
tents
DR.. Blades said about 81 per cent
of the victims of coronary oc-
clusions die within five years. Fif-
teen to 35 per cent, he said, die
from the first attack Half of them
die within two years, and two
thirds by the end of the third year.
A coronary occlusion is the
blocking of one of the hearts main
vessels. shutting off a supply Of
oxygen-carrying blood to the
heart.
Few Live Long.
"A few victims of coronary dis
ease may live for many years."
DR.. Blades declared. Every physi-
clan and patient hopes for this
exception in his case. Incapacity
and early death is, however. the
rule.
"An aggressive. direct attack on
coronary disease seems justi-
fable"
Even in patients who survive
serious coronary attacks. DR..
Blades explained. portions of the
heart become weakened through
the decrease in blood reaching
the heart. This weakness greatly
reduces the patients chances of
surviving later attacks.
A main purpose of the expert
mental animal surgery, therefore.
he said, has been to replenish
the hearts supply of blood con-
tanning life-giving oxygen. In
two operations described by the
surgeon. tissue from the stomach
and from the lung-both rich in
blood-have been grated to the
weakened heart area.
New Technique Developed.
At G. w. laboratories, DR.. Blades
said, the two operations have been
combined, grating tissues of both
the lung and stomach area to the
heart. An objection to use of the
stomach tissue, he said, has been
that it had to be pulled into the
chest cavity through the dia-
phgram-the heavy muscle sep
arating the stomach and chest
cavities.
In the G. w. technique, how
ever, tissue leading from the
stomach has been tunneled just
under the skin surface to the
heart, by-passing the diaphragm.
One of the most important re-
cent advances, he added, is an
operation developed by DR.. Claude
Beck of Cleveland, to route arterial
(oxygen-containing) blood to
vein area near the heart, thereby
supplying the oxygenated blood di-
rectly.
These operations, to fortify the
hearts blood supply, can be used
only as preventive measures after
the patient has recovered from a
first attack, the surgeon declared.
Drug Provides Hope.
During acute attacks, he said,
one of the most promising treat
ments is to regulate the hearts
movement with procaine. an anes-
thetic Often. when the Blood sup
ply is shut off, he explained, the
heart stops it's normal movement
and begins to f1utter. Then, the
blood pressure tumbles, and death
often results.
DR.. Blades said it would be too
dangerous to inject procaine di-
rectly into the heart muscle dur
ing an acute attack. But it may
be possible, he said, to regulate the
heart action by surrounding its
surface with the drug.
At G. w.. he said, the death
rate in dogs has been cut from
10 per cent to about Is per cent
by putting the heart to sleep"
with this method.
DR.. Blades Said the animal re-
search leaves important unsolved
problems which can only be
answered by use Of the surgery
in humans. He added:
"The horrifying death rate from
this disease, which may occur at
any age and often strike when the
victim has his greatest social re-
sponsibilities, will surely Justify
the application of these expert
mental observations to the f1u-
man, provided the immediate
mortality of surgical Intervention