Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-27

1 But ! have . feeling. I believe
that they have no influence In
having precipitated this attack.
We see attacks come frequently
lat sea level. and In people who
never play any golf. My own
feeling is that golf has been
often wrongly blamed. That
those who play golf and have an
attack at the age Of 65 night
have had an attack at Is II
they hadn't played golf.
Well. that is the present status.
I'VE just don't know, but We don't
think that exercise itself is re-
lsponsible. In fact. I am OF the
impression that 1t really helped
Ito delay the onset Of this than
ito cause It. OF course, very Sc
we're accidents or strains may
have precipitating effect. but
they aren't the fundamental
cause. And we are still studying
the question Of cause. Is 1t
Idiet?--Is 1t too rich q diet?---
Which some OF us may believe
there is too rich a diet in Amer
Iica today. No one can answer
that yet. But it does come more
often In males as they get older.
Especially in this country.
Now If with o narrowed artery
wall the blood clots in that part
Iof the artery which is the mar
lrowest. then we have coronary
thrombosis. And thrombosis
means the laying down Of q
blood clot. which is q thrombus.
And the process Of laying down
Ia thrombus or q clot Is called
Thrombosis. So coronary throm-
bosis is simply the laying down
sof a clotsin the coronary artery
And when that clot becomes
established acutely - 1t comes
Iquickly-the clot itself-the dis
ease has been going on for years
III mean that corornary artery
wall disease is not a sudden
thing. That Is in progress for q
good many years. probably be-
fore the clot forms. And some-
times We can diagnose that
amount Of disease before the clot
forms. and sometimes we can't,
Lot Of Us Have 1t
So that. instead OF talking
about coronary heart disease ]
like now to speak Of diagnosable
Icoronary heart disease, because
a lot Of us. probably some Of you
in this room. have coronary
artery disease and don't know it
and are not hurt by 1t, unless
you should get a clot from a
narrowing Of the arteries,
Some people 60 all through life
with abnormal coronary arteries
and never know they have had
abnormal coronary arteries. and
die Of something else--old age
Ior get run over or something
more easily from that I suppose.
Well. when the blood clot forms
in the coronary artery the mus
Giles that supply that part Of the
heart muscle in the coronary
arteries branch out like a tree
over the surface Of the heart
and penetrate, and the branches
penetrate the heart like the roots
going into the ground.
@. Coronary muscle. did you
say?
DR.. White-No. heart muscle.
The coronary muscle deep down
into the muscle to supply that
much more with blood and to
take away the abnormal results
of metabolism from the heart
muscle. But when there is block
in one Of these arteries. then that
part Of the heart muscle that
should be supplied ordinarily by
that particular artery with oxy-
lgen--that part OF the heart mus
Gle no longer receives the ade-
lquate blood supply. although
some Of it may get In a round
about way through what we call
Icollaterals. And that muscle
aches.
We think that is the cause Of
that severe pain that comes with
Icoronary thrombosis, for which
morphine usually has to be given,
and part OF the heart muscle
has to go through the process Of
scar formation. Some OF the
muscle fibers die. q few Of them
in the front wall and others In
THE back wall.
The Presidents process is In
the front wall Of the heart. And
that Is commonplace. And the
tfibers. certain number Of them,
die previous to forming in an
area as big as this, and the
heart itself Is the size Of two
lists. and the amount Of muscle