Newspaper Page Text
Page 10
— Griffin Daily News Monday, Novembers, 1973
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Surgeion, left, reaches Into a patient’s body to remove a
cardiac pacemake, which he will replace. At right the
Surgeon, left, reaches into a patient’r body to remove a
New Cardiac pacemakers
life : bring new hope, life
Editor’s Note: This is the
first of two articles on cardiac
pacemakers, the electrical
devices that give hope and life
to some victims of heart at
tacks.
By MIKE DAUGHERTY
Copley News Service
LOS ANGELES - For
years doctors were helpless in
saving a patient whose heart
refused to pump blood
through the circulatory sys
tem.
Although the ability of
muscle to respond to elec
trical stimulation was known
in 1791, it wasn’t until 1959
that the first cardiac pace
maker — an electrical device
that stimulates the heart
muscle — was used on a hu
man.
Since then rapid strides
have been made in the de-
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velopment of the pacemaker,
helping to insure longer and
more useful lives to victims of
faulty hearts.
When the pacemaker was
first developed, it produced a
regularly timed stimulus to
promote a fixed cardiac rate.
The heart rate was usually set
between 60 and 70 beats a
minute.
Today, through medical re
search, doctors can install de
mand pacemakers which
function by the response of the
body activity and heartbeat.
Medical specialists say the
demand pacemaker, which
was developed in 1964, is the
most popular unit and is
usually installed in most
cardiac patients.
The demand pacemaker’s
success centers on the fact
that when the heart is able to
beat on its own, the unit will
shut off. In the absence of a
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Such operations are now described as “routine” by
doctors as the result of recent medical advances.
heartbeat, the unit auto
matically sends electrical
stimuli to the heart muscle.
The other two modes of
pacemaking that were devel
oped before the demand pace
maker are the asynchronous
pacemaker and the synchro
nous pacemaker.
Asynchronous pacemaking
is a fixed rate unit and is inde
pendent of body function. It is
the basic mode of pacemaking
still used today as a basis of
therapy for complete heart
blockage.
Synchronous pacemaking
acts as a conduction system
which is activated by the P
wave in the heart atrial. The
rate varies in respect to body
activity.
Dr. Peter Rubino, a Cali
fornia internist who is in
volved with pacemaker
operations, stressed in an in-
terview that all people with
heart problems do not neces
sarily need pacemakers. “In
dealing with pacemakers, the
most important question is,
does the patient really need a
pacemaker?” he said.
Rubino said each patient
that is considered for pace
making is watched carefully
to make sure the pacemaker
is the correct medical solu
tion.
The classical indication for
cardiac pacing is a complete
heart block with Stokes-
Adams seizures, he said. The
Stokes-Adams syndrome is
sudden unconsciousness, with
or without convulsions, as a
result of complete heart
blockage.
However, other indications
are sometimes not as easily
found. “In some cases, the pa
tient’s heart rate fluctuates,
from one extreme to another,
Ordeal of Israeli MIAs ’ families
‘Patience, patience; hope, hope’
By Macabee Dean
TEL AVIV — For many in
Israel today, the smoke-filled
basement room at 68 Ibn
Gavirol St. in Tel Aviv is the
saddest of places. It is happy
for only a tew.
To this room, from all over
Israel, come the distraught,
to see if they can recognize
the picture of their boy
friend, husband or son who
has been _ reported “missing
in action” by the Israel De
fense Forces.
Others who have not
received such notification
also come, for they may not
have heard from their loved
ones since the beginning of
the latest Arab-Israeli war.
Why the terrible silence?
Some come to 68 Ibn
Gavirol St. even though their
loved one has been reported
making it very hard to diag
nose,” Rubino said.
Hie decision of installing a
permanent pacemaker is
usually made after the pa
tient’s life is secure through
use of temporary pace
makers.
Temporary pacemakers
are installed in emergency
cases of heart blockage, ac
cording to Dr. Milford G. Wy
man, director of the coronary
care unit at the San Pedro and
Peninsula Hospital in South
ern California.
A vein, usually in the arm,
is blocked off and a catheter
(wire) is routed to the heart.
This route usually entails one
of the larger veins leading di
rectly to the heart.
Once the wire tip is placed
in the lower portion of the
heart, the vein is secured and
the temporary pacemaker is
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IT IS PHOTOGRAPHS Like these, taken from Jordanian television, that are studied
by the families of Israeli servicemen missing in action.
dead. Perhaps a mistake has
been made. Everybody
makes a mistake, especially
in the heat of battle.
Only hope embraces all of
the visitors here.
They hope that their beloved
is still alive and they will see
his picture among the POWs.
There are definitely more
pictures of POWs than there
are names officially released
by the Arab nations. Egypt
has released only a few short
lists and Syria has released
none at all.
The solemn audience sits
on hard chairs as pictures
are flashed on a screen. First
are movies of individuals and
groups imported from
foreign news agencies; then
reproductions made from
Jordan's TV screens, then
reproductions from various
Arabic newspapers and mag
azines.
Many of the pictures are
fuzzy, for the photographers
often are not interested in
giving sharp “mug shots” but
in giving an overall impres
sion of the POWs. Photos of
the Israeli POWs often show
them dejected, hanging their
heads, thus also hindering
identification.
hooked up.
The unit is the size of a tran
sistor radio and is powered by
five<nercury batteries. It has
dials that set the rate of the
heartbeat and volts the
catheters will transmit.
Once the heart begins to
beat regularly, the patient is
watched closely and the deci
sion is made whether or not he
will need a permanent
cardiac pacemaker.
In guiding the catheter
through the veins, the doctors
are aided by a fluoroscope, a
type of X-ray machine or an
image intensifier, a new ma
chine that is portable and
shows exactly where the
catheter is inside the vein.
In extreme emergencies,
where the transvenous proce
dure would take too much
time, the doctors will insert
an electrode directly into the
heart with a large needle.
If the doctors decide to im
plant a permanent pace
maker, a similar surgical
procedure of a transvenous
catheter is used to hook up the
unit.
Next: The story of three
people whose lives were saved
by pacemakers.
HOVERING a simulated
625 miles above the surface
of Mercury, a model
Mariner spacecraft trains
its television cameras on
the surface of the sun’s in
nermost planet in a pre
launch NASA rehearsal of
the coming two-planet fly
by mission. The 1,100-
pound Mariner is scheduled
to come within 3,300 miles
of Venus in February, 1974,
and swing onto the
renedezvous with Mercury
in late March.
It takes about an hour to
show all of the pictures — not
because there are so many,
but because of the interrup
tions.
A mother jumps up from
her chair and runs to the
screen, blocking others from
seeing.
Somebody tells her to move
aside, and she does, demand
ing, “Show it again, show it
again.” The film is run back
ward, then forward. She
studies the picture intently as
it flashes by. “Please, please,
run it again.” She studies it.
Then a quiet walk back to
her seat. She sobs quietly and
those nearby comfort her:
“Patience, patience, hope,
hope.”
The projector shows other
faces. A pregnant young wife
suddenly screams in the
dark: “It’s Yitzhak. He’s
alive. He’s alive.” She
screams and laughs hy
sterically. Her brother tries
to calm ner.
At her request a photo
grapher runs up and photo
graphs the screen. It will be a
bad picture, but a picture
nevertheless. A picture a wife
can show to her unborn child
in the years to come. It may
be years before she sees her
husband again.
The Egyptians have said
they will charge some of the
Israelis as “war criminals.”
The Syrians in the past have
kept Israelis POWs under
such intolerable conditions
that they return home in need
of prolonged psychiatric
help, often to no avail.
The show goes on.
After the films from
abroad, clips taken from Jor
danian TV are shown, then
newspaper clippings. If a
person asks, he is given a
copy of a clipping to take
home to study quietly with
family members.
The show is over.
The soldier in charge an
nounces that new pictures
are constantly being ob
tained. Come back in a few
days. “We will now show the
same pictures, the identical
pictures, again."
They are shown daily from
8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
But half of the audience of
about 100 remains seated.
They want to see these pic
tures again.
Perhaps the second time
some of the fuzziness may dis
appear, or they might catch a
typical gesture, and at last
the blurred outline will be-
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come clear in their hearts, if
not their eyes. Then they will
know that their “soldier” is
alive and may someday
return.
(The author is an Israeli
journalist.)
At home
with buffalo
PHOENIX, Ariz. (UPI) - If
you’d like a “home where the
buffalo roam, and the sky is not
cloudy all day”—but the
television reception isn’t so hot
—the Arizona Game and Fish
Department is looking for you.
The department is searching
for someone to become manag
er of its Houserock Valley
Buffalo Randi, which is located
just north of the Grand Canyon
at the edge of the Kaibab North
National Forest The67,000-acre
spread is home to about 250
state-owned buffalo.
The department says there
aren’t many applicants, noting
that the salary is only |9,000 a
year, the ranch house has
indoor plumbing but it’s fed by
an icy spring, and the
electricity is sufficient “once
the generator is fired up, but
TV reception is not too good,
and the working hours are
likely to be long.”
B.U. HONORS REX
BOSTON (UPI) - Actor Rex
Harrison will receive an hono
rary Doctor of Humane Letters
degree from the Boston Univer
sity School of Fine and Applied
Arts Friday.
Harrison will be cited for his
award-winning portrayal of
Henry Higgins in the stage and
screen productions of “My Fair
Lady” and “scores of other
memorable characters in his
nearly 50 years as an actor,”
the university said Sunday.
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