Capsules

P: When a blood clot in a coronary artery causes a heart attack, one result may be an aneurysm-something like a big blister--bulging from the heart muscle. Drs. William Likoff and Charles P. Bailey of Philadelphia's Hahnemann Hospital report what is believed to be the first successful operation to remove one. A man of 56, formerly bedridden, has been, able to climb stairs without distress since the operation 15 months ago.

P: The U.S.'s first atomic energy reactor specifically designed for medical treatment and research is to be built for the University of California at Los Angeles. Its heart will be a foot-thick sphere of stainless steel containing uranyl sulfate enriched with uranium 235. Operating normally at 5 kw., the reactor will "burn" one ounce of fuel in 20 years, will provide gamma rays and neutrons for treating cancer patients as well as radiation for other research.

P: Instead of rating rheumatic heart disease as an automatic reason for terminating pregnancy, doctors should consider operating to widen the scarred mitral valve in the heart, four Philadelphia researchers suggest in the A.M.A. Journal. Of eleven women who have undergone the operation, nine have already had normal deliveries. Pregnancy may actually be helpful after the operation, say the Philadelphians, because the altered hormone balance protects the heart.

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