Evening star., 1952-07-23
New Drug May Prevent
Heart Failure Deaths
Tests Are Made on Rabbits
At Georgetown University
By Thomos R. Henry

By Thomas R. Henry
Farrreaching implications for saving
lives from heart failure-first and most
rapidly increasing cause of death among
adults in America today-are seen in
animal experiments now in progress
at Georgetown University School of
Medicine.
Seemingly miraculous results have
been obtained with experimental ami
mails. No tests have been made with
human beings-ard these still may be
some time in the future.
Briefly. extremely minute amounts Of
newly introduced chemical, methyl-
polySilone, prevents the clogging of the
air spaces in the lungs with foam which,
in the final analysis. is the immediate
cause of death in close to 80 per cent
of all heart deaths. The chief use of
this material in the past has been by
shippers of fuel oil. It has enabled
them to fill tank cars to capacity instead
of to somewhat less than capacity.
From Tank Cars to Lungs.
In what is characterized by the Rev.
Paul A. McNally, dean of Georgetown
Medical School, as a brilliant hunch,"
DR.. Charles F. Morgan. director of the
department of physiology. and his aSso-
ciates, DrS Joseph Princiotto and Will
liam L. Howell, made the enormous
jump from tank cars to animal lungs.
For essentially the same phenomenon
that prevented filling a car to capacity
with fuel oil also prevented the breath
ing mechanism of the body from func-
tioning adequately
Few persons die Of heart failure, per
Sc. What actually happens is that they
are drowned. just as much as if they
were drowned in water.
An unknown number of causes may
result in heart failure" This should
be distinguished for the moment from
the So-called "coronary," of medical
lingo. In heart failure the heart muscle
the heart is essentially muscle which
acts as a pump to keep the blood flowing
through the body-becomes weakened in
some way. This weakening may result
from diseases of the heart valves such
as prolonged high blood pressure or pro-
gresSive coronary obstruction. The net
result in any case is that the blood flow
through the lungs is weakened and
slowed down.
If the flow becomes sluggish due to
impaired heart action, the blood serum
tends to leak through the walls Of the
capillaries, particularly as it passes
through the lungs where the red cells
pick up oxygen from the inhaled breath
to act as fuel for every cell in the
body. The serum leaks into the air
cavities of the lungs and accumulates
there, since the lymphatic system in the
lungs is nearly absent and cannot drain
off the excess fluid. This condition is
known as pulmonary edema.
The lungs constantly are expanding
and contracting. This is much the same
action as an egg beater used on the
white of an egg. The fluid expands
enormously, as does the white of an
egg. Every housewife has seen two eggs
expand to fill bowl. This foam fills
up the air spaces. Less air can get in
to give fresh oxygen to the blood
stream.
The deprived blood gets back to the
heart. The oxygen is insufficient and
the already damaged heart deteriorates
still more. It's pumping action becomes
feebler. More serum gets into the blood
and more foam is formed.
Drowning Is Result.
Eventually drowning ensues. The
building up of the lung foam may be a
quite gradual process. or it may occur
with startling suddenness. The victim
struggles more and more for breath,
and eventually cannot breathe at all.
That is the end.
The condition may be reproduced
in animals. The Georgetown expert
menters have used rabbits. The lungs
can be filled with foam, for example,
by extremely heavy doses of adrenalin.
BY this technique it is possible to kill a
rabbit in less than Is minutes.
BY injecting NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in an
amount equivalent to a millionth of the
serum in the rabbits blood, the eff
feet can be reversed and the animal
kept alive Indefinitely. as long as a
rabbit ordinarily lives.
in these rabbits, of course the hearts
were normal. But the thing that killed
them has been overcome. Autopsies
show lung cavities entirely free of foam.
In human the heart is already DAM
aged. 1t may, or may not, be possible
to repair this damage in any particular
case. The drug. per Sc, has no effect
whatsoever on the heart itself. In some
cases, the trouble may be overcome by
heart surgery. or even by drugs. Given
plentiful oxygen supply. the organ
tends to repair itself. This is impossible
If the oxygen coming through the lungs
is progressively reduced.
AS one member of the Georgetown
faculty explained to DR.. McNally:
"A heart victim is like man chained
in cellar which slowly is filling with
water. There is an electric pump in
this cellar which is supposed to keep the
water down. Something happens to this
pump. The water rises until the man
browns. He dies because of the water
which covers him-not, per Sc, because
the pump failed. This would not mean
much if the water could be baled out
until the pump was fixed"
This is the story with heart failure
the progressive weakening of the heart.
Now even quite feeble heart beat
may enable the body to continue living
for long time, if the lungs can be
kept clear Of froth.
The anti-foam drug might easily, in
theory, save lives Of persons close to the
end.
No use will be made of the drug with
Ill 2Il