$3.5 Million
Granted For
Heart Studies;
ntcucom
duke univcusity mcdicM ccnteR.
VOLUME 22, NUMBER 4
JANUARY 24,1975
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
OCEAN FLOOR OFF THE BAHAMAS—This diver was one of two—Jeffrey R. Prentice and Steven B. Nelson—who tested Duke’s
new diver decompression table on this 500-foot dive off the Bahama islands in December. The new decompression schedule
allows divers to return to the surface faster and safer than conventional schedules. The picture was taken from a
Johnson-Sea-Link submersible owned by the Harbor Branch Foundation, which financed the Duke research.
Developed at Hyperbaric Chamber
New Diving Table Believed Safer
Doctors here have received a $3.5
million grant to tackle the nation's No. 1
killer—coronary artery disease.
The grant is the largest for the
medical center over the past year. It was
awarded by the National Heart and
Lung Institute and will support the work
of 17 researchers over the next five
years.
“Prolonging life and reducing
disability—that's what we re interested
in. " said Dr. Andrew G. Wallace, head of
the research team and chief of Duke s
Cardiovascular Division.
Wallace explained that two arteries
feed blood to the heart. Fatty deposits
can build up inside these arteries, like
rust in a pipe. That's coronary artery
disease, he said. The clogging prevents
the heart from getting enough blood
and, for that reason, can kill.
"It’s the most common cause of death
for both men and women in this
country, " Wallace said. In 1971 the
disorder was blamed for the deaths of
675,000 Americans—more than the
population of Boston.
It can lead to;
* angina pectoris—pain in the chest
or arm that strikes when people
exercise or go outside in cold weather;
* heart failure—when the heart is too
weak to pump normally;
* heart attacks—when a coronary
artery is completely blocked; or
* “sudden death "—a not-too-painful
heart attack in which "you re here one
minute and gone the next.” as one
doctor described it.
Two of the 17 Duke researchers will
try to curb these instant deaths by
correcting the irregular heartbeats that
precede them. One doctor will use
drugs in his effort; the other will try
surgery.
Two others will use sound waves to
diagnose heart damage.
"It’s like radar, said Wallace. "Bursts
of high frequency waves are bounced
off the structures of the heart. You get a
picture of the working heart and you
can even visualize valves moving.'
One doctor will measure blood flow
to the heart with radioactive chemicals
that show up on X-rays. They indicate
whether a coronary artery is clogging,
Wallace said.
Another researcher will try to
surgically remove ballooning areas of
the heart that contribute to heart failure.
Yet another will create a computerized
data bank that "will ultimately permit
doctors to tell each new patient with
coronary artery disease what medicine
can and cannot accomplish for him,
Wallace said.
Two doctors will test whether the
heart actually works better after surgery
has been performed to by-pass a
blocked section of coronary artery.
Others will;
* look for new ways to treat angina
pectoris;
* try to reduce the damage that heart
attacks do;
* test heart drugs on animals;
* set up laboratories for continuing
research on coronary artery disease.
The associate director of the 17-man
team is Dr. H. Newland Oldham,
associate professor of surgery. Working
with him and with Dr. Wallace will be:
Dr. Robert W. Anderson, Dr. Robert J.
Bache, Dr. John J. Gallagher. Dr.
Joseph Greenfield Jr., Dr. Donald B.
Hackel, Dr. Robert H. Jones, Dr. Joseph
A. Kisslo, Dr. Yihong Kong, Dr. James R.
fvlargolis. Dr. Daniel B. Menzel, Dr.
Charles R. Roe, Dr. Robert A. Rosati, Dr.
Harold C. Strauss. Dr. Olaf T. Von
Ramm and Dr. Galen S. Wagner.
By Joe Sigler
Duke hyperbaric chamber
researchers have developed what they
believe is the "fastest and safest ”
decompression schedule for divers
returning from 500 feet under the sea.
They plan to use similar methods for
computing schedules over a wide range
of depths and times.
They also have discovered a
technique of mixing a diver’s breathing
gases in a combination that will allow
Sanford Announces
Endowment Subsidy
The medical center will share in
grants totaling $2.8 million that have
been awarded to the university by the
Duke Endowment.
In announcing the gifts. President
Terry Sanford said that the Hospital and
Child Care Section of the endowment
appropriated $1.5 million of the total for
use in the medical center.
The announcement said the funds
would be used for future needs of Duke
Hospital.
The endowment's Committee on
Educational Institutions authorized the
remaining $1.3 million for use for
special educational purposes in other
areas of the university.
The gifts go toward the $162 million
goal of Duke’s Epoch Campaign. Gifts,
pledges and other commitments so far
total more than $54 million.
him to descend to the ocean floor at a
fast rate and be completely functional,
physically and mentally, when he gets
there.
The developments were explained in
Morgan City. La., Wednesday by Dr.
Peter B. Bennett in an address at the
International Diving Symposium.
Bennett is a professor of
anesthesiology and biomedical
engineering, co-director of the F. G.
Hall Laboratory for Environmental
Research (hyperbaric chamber) and
director of diving research.
Aside from meaning greater safety for
divers, the new techniques hold out a
potential for significant financial
savings to companies engaged in
deep-sea work—including offshore oil
developers—who must employ
expensive deep-sea divers.
In a separate interview in advance of
his speech, Bennett challenged the oil
companies to lend greater financial
support to research into diver safety
such as that being conducted at Duke
and elsewhere.
If not—and as the quest for deep-sea
oil reserves increases—Bennett said
"divers will become cannon fodder in
the battle for oil. '
"There have been a lot of deaths and
injuries to divers, especially in the North
Sea, Bennett said, "and it continues to
point up the need for safer operating
tables and procedures. We believe this
is the fastest and safest decompression
table that has been developed. '
The new decompression table
resulted from 89 simulated dives by
commercial divers working in cold
water in the Duke chamber over the
past year. Bennett said it then was
tested, "with every success,” in
500-foot ocean dives in late December
off the Bahamas.
The work has been supported by a
$300,000 grant from the Harbor Branch
Foundation of Florida with divers
supplied by Oceaneering International,
Inc. and International Underwater
Contractors, Inc.
A decompression table is a schedule
by which a diver is gradually brought
back up to the surface. Under the
pressure of the sea, the gases a diver
breathes are absorbed by his blood and
tissues. These gases must be allowed to
be expelled as the diver
decompresses—or comes under less
and less pressure as he ascends—or he
can experience serious illness or death
from decompression sickness,
commonly called “the bends.”
Under most decompression
schedules currently used, Bennett
explained, divers are pulled quite fast
from the deepest part of their
dive—usually halfway to the surface—in
the first phase of decompression. The
remainder of their trip to the surface is
long and gradual.
Under conventional U.S. Navy tables,
for example, a diver who has spent 30
minutes at 500 feet would require 1,017
(Continued on page 2)