Short Cuts

Hundreds of new gadgets and wrinkles were described at San Francisco:

P:A metal spring developed by the Elgin National Watch Co., so far tested only in dogs, gives promise of relief for a common disorder of the human heart, reported Dr. James H. Wible and colleagues of Detroit's Wayne University College of Medicine. Called "Elgiloy," the metal is formed into a valvelike flap and covered with nylon. The surgeon fits it into the heart in place of a sub-par mitral or aortic valve. Within 48 hours normal tissue begins to grow around it, in about two weeks completely encloses it. The metal is expected to retain its springiness beyond the patient's life expectancy. P:Because certain cancers take up phosphorus more readily than healthy tissues do, a University of Minnesota team headed by Dr. Donald B. Shahon tried using a radioactive form of the element (phosphorus 32) to reach hard-to-find cancers of the intestinal tract. It has helped surgeons to detect diseased tissues in a stage before full-blown cancer could be proved.

P:An aneurysm (ballooning blister) often develops on the muscular wall of the ventricle after a heart attack (estimated U.S. incidence: 25,000 to 200,000 cases a year). Famed Philadelphia Surgeon Charles P. Bailey believes that many such aneurysms can be greatly improved by surgery. By clamping off the blister sac, amputating it and stitching up the ventricle wall, his team got good results in seven out of eight cases--far better than the "dismal prospects with conservative management."

P:Stoppage of the heart on the operating table is probably the commonest cause of death during surgery. Prompt and heroic repair measures are often reported, but Drs. K. William Edmark and Henry N. Harkins of the University of Washington outlined something better--a way to anticipate and thus prevent the stoppage before it happens. They use a cardio-tachometer, with two electrodes taped to the patient's chest. A heart about to stop, they find, gives a full 30 seconds' warning by a drastic slowdown. The same electrodes can be used to give the faltering heart an electrical boost so that it promptly picks up again.

P:The conventional position (on the back with legs flexed on the abdomen) for a woman in the second stage of labor is "simply a newfangled fad," said the University of Mississippi's Dr. Michael Newton. "Sitting, kneeling, squatting or other positions have been used for countless generations'... In discarding age-old positions, have we adopted a technique which is simply more convenient for the mother's attendants?" The primitive positions enable the woman to use her uterine contractions much more effectively, Dr. Newton believes. His prescription: an adjustable back rest on the labor table so that the mother can be in a propped position with her back curved.

P: When a burn victim has so little healthy skin left that it is difficult to find enough for grafting, it may be stretched by mincing it in a Waring Blendor and applying it with a spray, reported San Francisco's Drs. John S. Najarian and Horace J. McCorkle.

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