Excision of acute infarct helps tachycardia patient
An acute myocardial infarct has been excised from the left ventricle of a 69-year-old man to control unremitting ventricular tachycardia and shock.
More than seven months later, the man is alive and well and can walk two miles a day. His only cardiac medication is digitalis.
A report on the rarely-performed procedure was hailed by several discussants at the recent meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Los Angeles. The investigator reporting was Michael Bilitch, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern California School of Medicine.
His co-investigators were Paul F. Speckart, MD, now of La Mesa, Calif, and William B. Davis, MD. The surgery was performed by Pablo Zubiate, MD, continued on next pagecontinued from previous page of the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.
The basis for the aggressive procedure followed in
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
