A heart surgeon to himself
How an English engineer fixed his heart
Dmitry Tselikov, CompulentaTal Galsworthy is an engineer, he used to take things apart to find a breakdown, and then put them back together and make them work.
But for more than thirty years, he had to live with a breakdown in his own heart, which turned out to be not so easy to fix. Nevertheless, one day he had a happy thought, and with the help of some technologies borrowed from the aviation industry, he made a "remarkably simple" device and convinced surgeons to implant it.
Nine years have passed, and a 57-year-old Englishman from Gloucestershire not only survived, but also helped four dozen people with the same disease in the same way. Now he offers surgeons all over Europe to test his magic device.
Tal Galsworthy (photo of YES Meeting).Galsworthy suffers from Marfan syndrome, a pathology of connective tissue.
The latter forms a supporting frame, thanks to which the organs keep their shape and remain in their place. People with severe forms of dysplasia begin to have problems with the eyes, joints, and especially with the heart.
Every time the heart distills another portion of blood, the aorta (the main vessel coming from the heart) stretches in order to adapt to the blood flow. In most people, it then returns to normal, but in patients with Marfan syndrome this does not happen, and over time the aorta increases.
From an early age, Tel knew that at one not very beautiful moment, the aorta would stretch so much that it would burst. In 2000, after a routine examination, he was told that it was time to think about surgery. But the engineer did not like what was offered to him at all. The traditional procedure is complicated and takes a lot of time: the stretched segment of the aorta is replaced with an artificial transplant. Sometimes metal valves are placed inside the heart instead of the cut ones.
In this case, he would have to take medications for blood thinning and the smoothest possible blood flow for the rest of his life and put up with the fact that even a small wound can lead to profuse bleeding. But the engineer loved skiing and was not going to give up an active lifestyle.
He began to ponder whether it was possible to do without removing part of the heart, and his thought was simple and direct. If a garden hose leaks, you need to take duct tape and wrap it around the hose from the outside. By some miracle, Galsworthy persuaded two London surgeons to think with him. Here are their names: Tom Treasure from the hospital. Guy (now works at University College London) and John Pepper from the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Over time, the research group grew, and three years later a special design clamp appeared, which was closely adjacent to the enlarged vessel, supporting it and preventing further growth. It was made of a material that has been used for many years in threads for stitching wounds. It seemed obvious that putting such a patch on the aorta is much easier and faster than climbing inside the vessel. In addition, there is no need for drugs against blood clots.
Four years have passed since Galsworthy had a happy thought. Everything was ready for the experiment, and the engineer agreed to play the role of a guinea pig. Despite several successful rehearsals, the patient was very scared. "I have repeatedly led projects, but this one, of course, was radically different from them," the inventor recalls. "I–and no one else–could end up in the next world."
The two-hour operation was performed at the Royal Brompton Hospital. In the nine years since then, Mr. Galsworthy's aorta has not increased in size. "It's easy for me to breathe, I sleep calmly and rest the way I used to rest all my life," the former patient boasts.
At first, the engineer thought only of himself, but since then more than forty people have undergone a similar procedure in London and Oxford, as well as in Belgium. Most of them feel fine, but there was still one patient who died from complications, so there is a risk.
Graham Cooper from Sheffield Clinical Hospital comments on the claims of colleagues: "Mr. Galsworthy is a great engineer, and the new method can really have a number of advantages over the traditional procedure. But this operation has been carried out for more than twenty years, it has proven itself to be quite safe, and we firmly know that it prolongs life. It will take a lot of time to get the necessary statistics that will allow you to compare the two approaches."
Galsworthy is only pleased with the proposal to start full-scale clinical trials, which he notified all surgeons in Europe on the pages of the European Heart Journal.
Prepared by the BBC: The engineer who fixed his own heart and others too.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.11.2013