Hope For Heart Patient

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31982, 8 May 1969, Page 16

Hope For Heart Patient

Health measures to prevent sudden death ■ from heart disease could ' be implemented for a fraction of the amount i the United States was disipating on military misadventures, said Dr Bernard Lown, a worldrenowned American cardiologist, in Christchurch yesterday. "To save an American businessman would cost $4500,” he said. “To kill one Vietnamese peasant costs us $325,000.” A society which was prepared to invest in one and not in the other was insane. It was barbaric mis-diversion of funds. Cardiovascular disease killed 600,000 Americans a year —more than one a minute—and the tragedy was that many of the victims were in their early forties and fifties. In the past the emphasis had been on prevention of heart disease, but. the likelihood of success with self-eon-trol measures involving diet and exercise was remote. It was now recognised that sudden death was caused by an electrical derangement of heart rhythm, brought about by the existence of heart disease. A knowledgable doctor with the right equipment could resuscitate such a patient.

Dr Lown said that a heart i attack was in effect an acci- i dent of self-electrocution. Recognition of this had led to the establishment of coronary care units where patients who had suffered heart attacks could be monitored through the critical few days immediately after an attack. A medical team was on the alert, like a fire department, to respond immediately to a disturbance detected by the monitoring equipment and to resuscitate the patient Another life-saving measure was the use of drugs for patients whose minor disturbances of heart rhythm indicated potential electrical failure. Many persons died of heart disease before they reached hospital, and it was important to be able to identify those persons susceptible to sudden death from heart attacks. Certain symptoms, which were often interpreted by a man or his family as trivial pains caused, by indigestion or arthritis, could in fact be the earliest symptoms of a heart attack. High-risk patients those with high blood pressure, high blood-fat levels, overweight persons, under-exer-cised persons, and smokers—should be monitored electronically in pre-coronary care 1 units. Dr Lown said he would like i to see such units developed in all communities, so that

patients at risk of sudden death from heart disease could be monitored for 24 hours once a year.

Pre - coronary care units were in their infancy. “This is just beginning,” he said. “We are starting to organise one in Boston.” The major factor in achieving such health measures was education of the public, so that their awareness would produce the necessary pressure. “Politicians are not responsive to persuasion,” said Dr Lown, “but they are responsive to pressure.” Dr Lown is here as the R. T. Hall lecturer to the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and is to conduct a course at the Princess Margaret Hospital today. He is in charge of the cardiac clinic at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital at Harvard University Medical School in Boston. He is also professor of cardiology at Harvard's School of Public Health and Nutrition.

Wind At Port—South-west-erly winds sometimes gusting to 50 knots swept Lyttelton Harbour yesterday afternoon. Because of rain and unpleasant conditions, most waterfront labour was dismissed at 4 p.m. The freighter Waimea, inward bound from Sydney, has been delayed by rough seas and is not due until today.