Doctors today are saving 85 per cent of the people who would have died 30 years ago of ruptures in brain blood vessels, a celebrated1 neuro-surgeon said here today.
The surgeon, Dr. James Poppen, director of neuro-surgery at the Lahey Clinic, Boston, made the first annual Gilbert
Anderson memorial lecture at the Louisiana State university medical school.
Dr. Anderson was a pioneer in neuro-surgery in the United States and the first neuro-surgeon in Louisiana. He was professor of neuro-surgery at Louisiana State university and died in 1941,
Dr. Poppen emphasized that he was not talking about strokes, but ordinary ruptures of brain blood vessels. A stroke is caused by a clot in a blood vessel in the brain. Weaken Walls
Dr. Poppen said that neuro-surgeons (surgeons who operate on the brain, spinal cord and nerves) use different processes to save lives of persons who have suffered ruptures of blood vessels in the brain that are due to weakening of the blood vessel walls:
"We put surgical clips on the ruptured spot. Or, if we can't use a clip without shut-ting off the mother or main blood vessel, we reinforce the thinned or ruptured wall by plastic or muscular tissue. Or we may shut off a major blood vessel in the neck that leads to the ruptured spot," he explained.
The belief was expressed by Dr. Poppen that some day "in the distant future, not in my lifetime," surgeons will be able to insert blood vessels in the brain or replace ruptured blood vessels. They are doing this already in the neck.
"This insertion of blood vessels will be in the larger branches of the -arteries of the brain. This work will promote usefulness of the patient, preserve his thinking, and usefulness of hands and feet," he added. Treatment Better
Improvement in present surgical treatment of blood vessels, he said, is due to progress in techniques, including oxygenation and lowering of body temperatures.
At present, he said, neuro-surgeons are working on methods for strengthening i blood vessels to prevent them from rupturing.
It was pointed out by the surgeon that some persons are born with weakened blood vessels, and that these vessels do not rupture until later in life. In older persons, the blood vessel ruptures are due to hardening of the arteries in a localized spot. PHOTO: DR JAMES POPPEN
