HEART-LUNG MACHINE USED IN SURGERY

MEGAN WHITE 12, LAURA WILLIAMS 12, KELLY ELLIOTT 14

Transposition of the great arteries, the condition that affected Jack Hope when he was born 11 years ago, is one of the disorders that can be treated through open-heart surgery.

Most children, however, do not have to deal with the worries of surgery because, according to Dr. Donald Girod, heart disease occurs in only one out of 200 babies.

Jack's surgery involved cutting through the breast bone so that the heart could be reached.

The body was then hooked up to a heart-lung machine, which functions in place of the heart and the lungs so that the surgeon can perform the operation.

"The very first open- heart surgery was done in 1953," Girod said. "It didn't involve the use of the heart-lung machine. It was open-heart surgery but in this case the parent served as the heart and lung for the infant. It was called cross- circulation. . . . That technique lasted only about one year. Then the following year, surgeons in general began to use the heart-lung machine, and parents were no longer used as the artifical heart and lung. . . . There were about 100 cases done like that."

So, during Jack's surgery the patient's heart actually stops beating. After the operation the heart is restarted, and the breast bone is held together with wires so it can heal.

Complications are something to look for.

"I guess the single most common thing (that could go wrong) would be heart failure," Girod said. "Basically (congestive heart failure) is a situation _ the heart is a pump in the first place _ and that is its function, to pump blood, and if for some reason it's not pumping correctly you're not getting enough blood flow to the body, and we call that heart failure."

After surgery there are some precautions that a doctor might prescribe for his patient. In Jack's case they're simple.

"I've tried to steer him away from doing competitive athletics that require extreme exertion," Girod explained. "Like running or something like that. . .

(His heart) is real good _ but it still is born with a defect and repaired with surgery. So I think it's kind of unfair to expect him to do 100 percent of extreme activity."