Word: hernia
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Died. Edwin C. Johnson, 86, three-term Democratic Governor of Colorado and U.S. Senator from 1937 to 1955; following a hernia operation; in Denver. A conservative, "Big Ed" was offended by immorality among Hollywood actors and actresses and called for a congressional investigation. "Unconventional free-love conduct must be regarded for what it is," he said, "an assault upon the institution of marriage...
...hiatus is simply an opening, the word being derived appropriately from the Latin verb hiare, to yawn. The esophagus (gullet), which carries food from the mouth to the stomach, passes through a hiatus in the diaphragm, the muscular wall that divides the chest and abdominal cavities. A hernia is a rupture, or break, usually in a muscle, that permits an organ to protrude through it. A hiatal hernia is an enlarged opening at the point where the gullet goes through the diaphragm. A relatively small hernia will permit the lowest part of the gullet to slide upward into the chest...
Early surgery for hernia consisted mainly of stitching the diaphragm to restore the hiatus to its natural, former size and putting the stomach back in place. This worked well for most patients, at least for a few months, but after that as many as 25% had a recurrence of their acid reflux. So they were back where they started with "heartburn," which became especially severe while they were lying down, and it was likely to wake them in the middle of the night. Then they spent sleepless hours, propped up in pain...
Correcting a Curve. In the last nine years, Dr. Lucius D. Hill of Seattle's Mason Clinic has succeeded in correcting reflux in all but three of a total of 254 patients, and in only one case was there a recurrence of the hernia sufficient to allow the stomach to slide up. Hill's technique, which is now being adopted by many other surgeons, involves a more elaborate procedure: stitching part of the stomach to form an internal flap that prevents reflux. Ligaments and other tissues are attached where the gullet joins the stomach, so that this junction...
Even with the improved technique and results, surgeons concede that operations for hiatal hernia should not be undertaken lightly. Of the patients whose X rays reveal the condition, said Dr. Adams, only about one-fourth need any treatment, medical or otherwise. Only about half of those need undergo surgery. For the rest, there are antacids, perhaps other drugs-and, of course, that infernal bland diet...