Word: hufnagel
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...Leaky valves, particularly the aortic. At Georgetown University Hospital, Surgeon Charles Anthony Hufnagel has developed an ingenious solution: into the aortic channel he introduces an additional valve made of plastic, with a floating ball which stops the backflow when the heart relaxes. (Such valves used to tick like a clock inside the patient, are now silent because the ball is covered with silicone rubber.) The gadget does not prevent all backflow but stops enough to keep most patients' hearts from being overloaded...
...family history of cancer of any kind, don't smoke, but if you have no family history of cancer, you can probably inhale smoke with less risk." ¶Grafts of arteries from calves and pigs have been successful in four human patients, Washington's Dr. Charles A. Hufnagel told the American College of Surgeons. The grafts "took" long enough for the patients' own arteries to grow and fill...
Though the whole operation (under sodium pentothal and nitrous oxide anesthesia) lasted 2½ hours, most of that time was taken up in getting to the aorta. Then Dr. Hufnagel cut the aorta a few inches from the heart and fitted the loose ends of the aorta to the ends of the plastic valve sleeve. Like a plumber putting an extra valve in a water line, he left the old, defective valve in place. This part of the operation took only five minutes, and the blood flow to the brain was never interrupted...
Like a Watch. Dr. Hufnagel and his colleagues did not intend to publish the story of the operation until they had done it four or five times. It leaked out, anyway. They still cannot tell whether the plastic valve can be used in other types of heart disease. All they will say now is that they expect it to be a big help in many cases of damage to the aorta caused by rheumatic fever. (The exceptions: the very young, the feeble and the aged.) There are thousands of such cases in the U.S. each year...
...only patient now wearing an artificial aortic valve ticks like a watch to the stethoscopic ear. Like nature's valve, the plastic job will work equally well in any position. "Patients will be able to stand on their heads, if they like," says Dr. Hufnagel...