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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1960)
Plastic Mitral Heart Valve Means tiff for Iheumatic Fever Uiotins Precision Device Developed at Lab At Medical School (Editor's note: This is another in series of ar ticles by Mrs. Wilma Mor rison, well-known reporter of Oregon education, on the research and public service projects being carried on by the state's colleges and uni versity. They hare been written for the state system - of higher education.) By MRS. WILMA MORRISON The congenital heart chil dren who are living normal or relatively normal lives as a result of the heart-lung ma chine and open heart surgery techniques developed at the medical school's heart labora tory, are evident to any lay man's naked eye: their sur gery has been dramatically publicized. The continuing life-saving research output of the lab and the machine shows up less spectacularly in medical literature and in doctors' and hospitals' reports. Most recent development of the lab is a precision device a plastic mitral heart valve that can mean a reprieve from death sentence for some of the severely heart-damaged victims of the historic killer, rheumatic fever. Machine Developed Showing the valve along with several others which have been tried and found wanting in some way, Dr. Al bert Starr, the cardiac sur geon who heads . the labora tory t said this perfected valve has now been tried on enough dogs that he is ready to place TINY PATIENT - Tiniest patient on a recent heart clinic day at the crippled children's division at the medical school was this seven-weeks girls getting flouroscopic examination by radiologist. Her bluish-red color contrasted ominously with healthy appearance of her twin. Couple Closes Eyes; Tombstone Disappears Billings, Mont. - Someone put a tombstone in the yard behind the house of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Sofiero. They decided to ignore It. acting on the theory that if you close your eyes to some thing long enough it will go away. A few days later the tomb stone did just that, vanishing as mysteriously as it had ap peared. Queen Elizabeth's 9-year-old daughter drew in a royal breath and told fellow Brown ies: MARSHALL'S Carpet Cleaning Aids A clean carpet is a hand some carpet when cleaned by us with Ludox to retard soiling and . brighten the original colors. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Carpet Cleaning Furniture Cleaning Bob Marshall's Floorcovering Service 127 N. RWertide St 3-6587 EXPLAINS VALVE - As dramatic as the open heart operation itself are the surgery techniques and devices that the heart-lung machine has made possible. Dr. : Albert Starr, thoracic surgeon, right, explains the plastic mitral heart valve (inset) that is it with confidence in a hu man heart. The heart - lung machine which Dr. Starr and his labo ratory staff developed and which has made possible 102 open heart operations in the past year is an intricate pump that keeps the blood circula ting while surgeons make re pairs on the human heart. It is an engineering masterpiece but all it ' does is make the repair job possible; the labora tory research and experimen tation necessary before sur geons can work with safety to the patient, is endless. The American 'Stork' Is a Strange Bird Nursery stories picture the stork perched atop a chimney pot, apparently awaiting or ders, and always ready to car ry a "precious bundle" any where in the world at any time. Of course, in these United States we are terribly short of chimney-pots: but we do have storks scattered throughout the southern and eastern parts of our country. At least they are reasonable facsimiles of storks, for the large wading bird called the ibis belongs to the stork fam ily and is the only representa tive of the family in the new world. The wood ibis is a strange bird, inhabiting low coastal areas of the southeastern United States. They are large birds, often with a wing spread of six feet and have long legs and a short and a comical tail. The head and neck are bare of feathers, which gives the bird a pecul iar appearance, and prompted someone to name them "flint heads" or "ironheads." Soar Skyward In the late afternoon or early evening great flocks of these birds take to the air and soar skyward on currents of ascending air that rise from the hot earth. Upon reaching Before the development of the machine surgical methods of correcting cardiac defects were all theoretical. Now doctors must know how to make the repairs, and every procedure has to be proven on dogs in the laboratory be fore it is used on a human. '"In cardiac surgery with its rapid advances the only way to have proper patient care is to have one foot in the lab and one in the operating room," Dr. Starr said. "You can't have a top-notch clinical team without this research laboratory experience. The TRACINGS TAKEN - Three-year-old Christopher Ward has been under the watchful eyes of the Crippled Children's division since his defective heart was discovered at birth. Here he has EKG (heart tracings) taken during regular visit to Children's center at the medical school. Chris whose activity has to be strictly limited, will have open heart sur gery before too long. Small Worlds Around Us By Lynn M. Watkins the clouds high in the sky, they fold their wings and plummet earthward, only to arrest their descent at the last moment before plunging into the tree tops and taking advantage of another ascend ing air current, rise high into the air again. This game often lasts for hours, the birds apparently getting a tremendous thrill from the performance. The entire ibis colony may take part in the sport. Sometimes the flying or soaring bird will turn over in the air and fly a considerable distance while in an upside down position. The wood ibis seems reluct ant to rest for any length of time. When nothing else ap peals to their desire for ac tion they will select a small limb of a bush or tree much too weak to support their weight, and attempt to bal ance themselves on it. After the futile performance ends, the ibis will solemnly stand again on solid ground, but an other bird will promptly fly up on the branch and start the hopeless "body-juggling" act. Unique Feeding Routine The feeding routine of. the wood ibis is unique among birds. They have adopted a pe culiar technique of securing small fish on which they usu ally feed. The entire ibis col latest product of his heart laboratory at the medical school. The ball valve opens and closes with the surge of blood. It has been proven on dogs and holds a life-promise for heart-damaged victims of rheumatic fever. lab is a training ground for surgery as well as a place of discovery. It is just fantastic how soon we will do an oper ation after the technique is discovered in the lab. No End to Research "There is no end to re search. You solve today's problem and out. of the. solu tion, you have ever-expanding problems 1 that demand solving. Five years ago the problem was a safer heart lung machine: now we have it and it has allowed us to ony will take up positions in a shallow pool and all go into a trampling dance that churns the water into a muddy swirl. The bewildered fish come to the water's surface and fall easy prey to me long, stout bills of the homely storks. There are many phases of the life history ot the wood ibis that are not well known. The birds do some things that are not easily explainable. They have actions that bewil der the observer. Perhaps there is more to this "stork story" than has ever been told. A group of wood ibis stand ing in the mud is a ludicrous sight. They look very much like a group of hump-backed dignitaries debating matters of serious importance to a world which will probably fail to listen. Perhaps the "storks" also have supersti tions centered around us. Maybe that's why they always look -so tired; maybe the last precious bundle they deliv ered was heavy. (Released by The Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1960) Hungry Young Actor Takes Cast's Apple Clinton. Tenn. - A young ster scheduled to have an ap ple shot from his head in a perform ance of "William Tell" noticed somethhg im portant was missing - the ap ple. . Nine-year-old Howard Ken na had to depend on the audience using its imagination after it was discovered anoth er member of the cast had become hungry and eaten the apple. enter into problems we never could touch before." Dr. Starr illustrated with the new mitral heart valve soon to be placed in a human heart. Another- recent lab achievement was the success ful search for a synthetic ma terial to widen the area of the lung artery. .Narrowing of this artery is cause of "blue babies." The lab experimented with all kinds of materials including the fibrous tissue that covers the brain. Finally it was demonstrated that tef lon is ideal, and this material now has been placed in 20 patients with apparent suc cess. "Here, right out of the lab, boom! we had something of urgent clinical value," Dr. Starr said. Anti-Blood-Coagulant The lab also makes possible the testing of discoveries made elsewhere in heart surgery, Currently the staff is testing a newly-marketed anti-blood- coagulant for the Red Cross to see if that organization's whole procurement program for heart surgery should be changed. If the new anti coagulant works it will mean blood storage of 4 to 5 days is feasible instead of the pres ent 24 hours. There would be no more rushing of blood by plane, followed by all-night testing before an operation. There is a time drama in background of the kinds of close laboratory - operating room research that goes on in heart surgery. The heart-lung machine itself must be im proved constantly as surgeons are led to attempt heart re pairs never possible before. Right now, in Boston, a whole new cabinet is being made to the staff's order. It Thornton Sees Outgrowth of Crime Conference Salem - (UPD - Attorney Gen eral Robert Y. Thornton said Wednesday that one out growth of the state crime pre vention conference here last week may be a new provis ional crime prevention divis ion in the Oregon Department of Justice. He said he is considering establishment of such a divis ion. The division would work with a new attorney general's advisory committee on crime prevention, to be appointed. Main aim would be to pro duce and carry out "concrete recommendations for crime prevention on city, county and state levels." Urgent Need Seen "I am convinced," Thorn ton said, "that there is a ur gent need for an effort at the state level to provide some leadership and action to head off at least some of these po tential offenders before they start treadmilling endlessly in and out of our courts, jails and prisons." Thornton said there would be no additional cost to the taxpayers because he would take personal charge of the new division and it would be added to the Justice Depart ment's regular work load. Decision Makers Slated for Study Medford, Mass.-(UP-An un usual study of the factors that influence the making of de cisions will be undertaken soon at Tufts University. The psychological project , was made possible by a $16,- 000 National bcience r oun- dation grant. "Little is known about the individuals involved in the making of decisions and whether the person assigned to make a decision really is the right person," says Dr. Ezra Saul, one of the psy chologists. "We hope to find some new knowledge which will insure the selection of the best pos sible person for the making of decisions in all spheres of activity, especially in this new space and atomic era." Boy Believed Youngest Eagle Kent, Ohio-CPD-Bill Con way is a serious young man with a serious question. Is he the youngest Eagle Scout in the country? Bill will be 13 on Feb. 25. Local scout officials believe he replaces Francis Barnes of Montoursville, Pa., as . the youngest Eagle Scout. Bill was motivated to win the 21 merit badges required for the Eagle insignia by the record of his father, now a professor of Kent State uni versity. His father was once the youngest boy in the Sasinaw, Mich., area ever to win the rank of Eagle. will give the machine a new function and there are several critical heart operations wait ing its completion. The me chanical addition will allow a flow of oxygenated blood separately into the aortic ar teries and will mean that sur geons can work on the aortic valve an indefinite time in stead of the present i5-minute limit. Sense of 'Urgency ' "There are men scheduled for surgery in March who cannot be operated on with out this addition to the ma chine," Dr. Starr said. "We have a terrible sense - of ur gency." Of the 102 open heart oper ations that have been done at the medical school hospital, an average of two a week, 97 were on children whose cases were worked up by the staff of the Oregon crippled - chil dren's division and consultant heart specialists. These chil dren come from all counties. An open heart operation Gold Bond dress shoes in the newest, best looking styles for Spring Shadow antiqued TtlaTfellll ' V brown or black. - Brown or black blucher oxford. Brown with black trim or all black B-Dwn or black fine grain "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" has to be expensive. It calls for four surgeons, an anes thesiologist, cardiologist, sev eral surgical nurses and other technicians besides the pre liminary team work-up of the case. The presence of the heart lab and a center of cardiac surgery . at Oregon's medical school is an illustration of the combined teaching - research -public benefits that are pos sible now through federal and foundation investment in col leges and universities. In this case, the extensive work of the crippled children's divis ion with congenital heart vic tims, and the division's un usual organization as virtual ly a department of the medi cal school were prime reasons for the thousands of dollars of gift funds involved. Figure Moving "Records show that one in every 200 births has a con genital heart d e f e c t," Dr. Richard Sleeter, director of the division, said. He believes SEARS the figure "is moving closer to one in 150 births." With the evidence of the numbers of children needing help - numbers which could not possibly be taken care of by sending them to the few medical centers in the coun try doing open heart surgery, Dr. Sleeter took his case to the children's bureau. The fact that the number of patients necessary for a productive heart research pro gram were available through the crippled children's divis ion, and that the medical school offered facilities and use of the heart lab in teach ing, brought a five-year grant of 5130,000 from .the chil dren's bureau. Later grants from the U.S. public health service and medical research foundation of the medical school have been added. Open heart surgery has made cure of the heart-damaged child possible. But for the increasing number of chil dren who live with the mul- r r o save a pair Friday, Saturday and Monday regularly 1 1.98 c5 J Some classic favorites, some brand new ... all extremely good looking styles from our regular stock for Spring. Made to our specifications in soft, fine quality leathers including the dis tinctive new grained finishes, more subtle this season. They have the lightweight flexibility vital for walking comfort, need no breaking in. Just say "Charge It" on SRC... use as a 30-DAY CHARGE ACCOUNT or take many months to pay 501 E. JACtfSOM ST. IM MPneoRD - Pfvn. SP "-A661 Open fvtonuay and riioay lit 9 1-Ktt rMruviNG MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. Thurediy, Feb. 25, 1960 C tiple damage of cerebro palsy and other neurological and sensory disorders there can be few "cures" - only ameliora tion of their handicaps. (Third, and last article on the crippled children's di vision: The long-time treat ment of the multihandicap ped.) HELP We need clothing, shoes, dishes, furniture, and bedding. We Pick Up. HELP OTHERS! The Salvation Army SPring 3-7335 Soft grain In black or brown. Brown with shadow antiquing or black. OuS! 0)90 t
