Heart surgery safer thanks to 16-year-old
(Continued from page 1)
electrocardiogram to the point where it is
unintelligible, much like a vacuum cleaner
can blur a television picture.
This distortion, unofficially referred to
as "noise" or "garbage," is frequently due
to what engineers call abnormally high
electrode impedance.
"It's not just an easy matter of changing
the electrode," Burton said. "You've got
all the surgeons there operating, and the
patient is covered with sterile sheets and
other things."
Messenger became technician
What was required, he said, was a
simple device that could test impedance
quickly before operations and not be in
the way later. Commercial impedance
testers are too complicated to be practical
for open heart surgery, and electrical
engineers in the anesthesiology
department had more pressing concerns.
"John, whose father is an
anesthesiologist here, came to work for
us as a messenger last summer," Burton
said. "When some of our technicians left
for other jobs and we were caught short-
handed, we gave him a technician job
because he had already demonstrated his
competence."
For the rest of the summer, John
arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. to
check out monitoring equipment before
surgery, to repair instruments back in the
laboratory and to be on call in case of
equipment failure during an operation.
"He pulled his weight the whole way
and did the same work we would expect
from a senior engineering student in
college," Burton said.
Green light means go
After returning to school, the young
man, who was familiar with the
impedance problem, began designing and
building an instrument to test it.
"He came in one day in December with
an apparatus that was all ready to go," the
scientist said. "The workmanship was
remarkably good, and it does exactly what
we want it to do in less than 30 seconds."
The device works by passing a faint
electric current through the patient and
YOUTHFUL INVENTOR — Six teen-year-old John Karis of Durham has
designed and constructed a device that has been used almost every day
since Christmas in the open heart surgery rooms at the medical center.
The instrument, shown here with the young man in the Anesthesia
Electronics Shop, assures physicians that electrical interference caused
by faulty electrode connections will not disrupt heart monitoring during
operations. John is the son of Dr. Joannes H. Karis, professor of
anesthesiology, fPhoto fry Thad Sparks)
between the various electrodes. The
current is 100,000 times weaker than that
in a common light socket.
If an electrode is satisfactory, a green
light comes on. When the impedance is
too high, a red light flashes so that the bad
electrode can be replaced.
Can be matter of life and death
"Having a good, clean electrocardio
gram can literally be a matter of life and
death when surgeons have to use a
balloon pump," Burton said. "If a patient's
heart isn't pumping blood as well as it
SAYING THANKS — Hospital administration
said thank you to the auxiliary April 3 by
honoring them with a reception followed by a
dinner in the courtyard cafeteria. Dr. Roscoe
R. (Ike) Robinson, associate vice president for
health affairs and chief executive officer of the
hospital, spoke at the dinner, which also
featured a slide show about Duke Hospital
North. Shown at left is auxiliary member
Sarah Hobbs. Below, left to right, are Ort
Busse, auxiliary president; Dr. William G.
Anlyan, vice president for health affairs;
Robinson; and Mattie Belle Powell, recording
secretary of the auxiliary. (Photos fry Parlctr
Herring)
should after coming off the heart lung
machine, the balloon pump assists it until
it gets stronger."
Since the electrocardiogram triggers
the pump to work in unison with the
heart, he explained, the pump cannot
function optimally when the
electrocardiogram is garbled.
Burton said his department is so
pleased with the impedance tester that it
plans to build more of them. He would
like to have John work in anesthesia
electronics again this summer.
But the young man, a solid "A" student
in science, said he doesn't know yet what
he is going to do during vacation. He has
already had invitations to three summer
science camps, and he is considering the
one at North Carolina State University.
His device narrowly missed winning
first place in the 1978 North Carolina
Junior Science and Humanities
symposium, and John also has been
invited to attend the National Junior
Science and Humanities Symposium In
New Jersey in May.
Ambulatory nursing workshop set
A workshop on continuity of
ambulatory nursing care is being offered
by the hospital to health care personnel
from across the state.
The one-day program, which is being
coordinated by Ambulatory Nursing
Services, will focus on effective
utilization of services and improving
working relationships and communica
tions.
It will be held in the Hospital
Amphitheater (yellow zone, first floor)
Saturday, April 29. The registration
deadline is April 15.
Duke nurses who will be speaking are
Judy Carlson, head nurse. Urology Clinic;
Rebecca Herbstreith, head nurse. Medical
Outpatient Clinic; Jacqueline Holland,
r
I
! Memorial lecture i
I I
j Members of the Department of J
I Microbiology and Immunology have j
I announced the establishment of the |
I "Jim McGinnis Memorial Lecture," in |
j memory of the graduate student who I
j drowned in a canoing accident last *
I month. j
I The lecture will be delivered |
j annually by a speaker selected by the |
j graduate students of the department. I
I Memorial contributions to help I
I support the lecture may be directed to !
I Bob Ziegler, Box 3020. i
I
nurse clinician. Psychiatric Clinic; Ann
Johnson, head nurse. Surgical Outpatient
Clinic; Barbara Leathers, head nurse,
ENT Clinic; Jane Reed, registration
Supervisor, Outpatient Business Office;
Onzelle Riley, head nurse. Women's
Clinic; Jane Sharpe, head nurse. Pediatric
Clinic; Susie Wheelis, head nurse,
Emergency Room; and Vernice Wright,
staff nurse. Surgical Outpatient Clinic.
For more information, contact
Ambulatory Nursing Services, 684-3126.
Symposium looks at
nervous system
"Organizational FVinciples in the
Nervous System" will be the topic of a
neuroscience symposium to be presented
by Duke's Ganglion Society next Friday
(April 21).
Dr. Irving T. Diamond, James B. Duke
Professor of psychology, and Dr. Lome
M. Mendell, associate professor of
physiology, will be among those giving
individual presentations between 8:30
a.m. and 5 p.m.
Guest speakers include Prof. J. Z.
Young, Wellcome Institute, London; Drs.
Maxwell Cowan and Viktor Hamburger,
Washington University; and Dr. Bruce
. McEwen,' Rockefeller University.
Registration is limited. For further
information, contact Mario Orlandi, 684-
4366, or Claude Hughes, 684-5572.