VA Hospital Has 12 Research Projects Under Way Here

              2-C Sunday, May 10, 1970 THE SHREVEPORT TIMES
VA Hospital and the LSU School of
Medicine here cooperate on 12 research
projects now in progress at the institu-tions.
Dr. S. L. Allis (left) chief of staff
at the VA, and Dr. Charles Wood,
professor in the Department of Phar-macology
and Therapeutics at LSU,
discuss one of the projects. (Times
Photo by Terry Vaughan)
VA Hospital Has 12 Research
Projects Under Way Here
By Margaret Martin
Times Medical Writer
Medical research in the Veter-an
Administration Hospital was
officially authorized by law in
1958.
The Shreveport VA Hospital
started its research program in
June, 1959, and with two
projects, which has grown to 12
approved, subjects today.
Research today is conducted in
cooperation with the Louisiana
State University Medical school
at Shreveport, which is affiliated
with the VA.
The 12 projects currently under
way deal with biochemical phar-macology
(alcoholism), hypertes-nion,
hematology, immunology,
pathology, gastroenterology and
pychosomatics.
The quality of research is
screened through a review sys-tem
and administrative manage-ment
of the VA's medical
research program is for the most
part a function of the individual
hospital, according to E. P.
Whitaker, director of the local
institution.
The VA Hospital research and
education committee in conjunc-tion
with the dean's committee is
responsible with the hospital
director for maintaining the
"high standards of research,
diversity of that research and
has an important impact upon
the patient care and teaching
programs of the VA hospital-medical
school complex."
"These and other measures
insure that the VA research
program makes a continuing
contribution to improve care for
the veteran patient and the
American people. A recent sur-vey
revealed that the research
progra mdoes pay off in terms ofi
improved patient care," he add-ed.
Three specific projects demon-strate
the varied programs being
conducted.
Dr. Charles D. Wood, professor
in the Department of Pharmacol-ogy
and Therapeutics, and Gene
F. Perkins, research associate,
LSU School of Medicine in
Shreveport, recently attended the
41st Annual Aerospace Medical
Association Meeting in St. Louis.
Perkins presented a paper.
"The Effect of Amphetamine on
Hypertension and Pulmonary
Edema Produced by Hyperbaric
Oxygen." This paper is in
connection with a research pro-ject
which is currently in pro-gress
at the hospital.
Dr. Helmut M. Redetzki, head
of the Department of Pharmacol-ogy
and Therapeutics of the LSU
School of Medicine in Shreveport,
presented a report at the annual
meeting of the Federation of
American Societies for Experi-mental
Biology in Atlantic City,
N.J. recently.
This report was "Osmometry
in the Evaluation of Acute
Alcohol Intoxication."
Dr. Redetzki is presently en-gaged
in a research project
which is in progress at the
Shreveport VA Hospital
Dr. Theodore A. Koerner,
former chief of the Laboratory
Serice, and Dr. James R.
Hughes, chief of the Medical
Service of the local hospital,
collaborated in the research
work which lead to the develop-ment
of a simple method to
determine blood alcohol levels by
measuring the freezing point
depression of blood serum.
This procedure will be used to
help the physician evaluate rap-idly
the degree of a suspected
alcohol intoxication and to aid
him in the differential diagnosis
of patients who are admitted to
the hospital in an unconscious
state.
Research programs at the Veterans Administration
Hospital here include one on alcoholism being
conducted by Dr. Helmut Redtzki, head of the
Department of Pharmacology at Louisiana State
University School of Medicine at Shreveport. (Times
Photo by Terry Vaughan)