Movie x-rays of heart cited : Can Actually See Organ in Action, Medic Says

              An i mp roved technique which enables a doctor to look inside a patient's heart and more accurately pinpoint the trouble was described here Monday by a Texas cardiologist.
The new technique involves the use of a precision tool known as a cinefluorograph, explained Dr. Carlton B. Chapman, Dallas, Tex., professor of medicine at the Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas, and a featured speaker at the opening session of the New Orleans Graduate Medical Assembly.
"With the use of this cinefluorograph, which takes movie X-rays of the heart, we can actually see the heart in action," added the cardiologist, who addressed delegates at the Roosevelt hotel. "We can watch the valves of the heart move, we can better* spot the various defects. "This is our own baby." And it's wonderful for^ helping determine the type ofj heart ailment, for helping de-i termine just how serious the heart ailment actually is."
Dr. Chapman said electro-cardiography has reached a! sort of plateau.
"But that when you combine the use of an electrocardio-a cinefuorograph and a technique used for determining pressure in the heart, you really have an almost unbeatable combination for de-j (tection," he added. Tubes Measure Speed Dr. Chapman said tubes are inserted inside the heart to determine the pressure within the heart and to measure the speed with which blood goes in and out of the heart.
The cardiologist said great advances -have been made in heart surgery for patients suffering from congenital and valvular heart disease.
"But we still haven't perfect-, ed the artificial heart—the pump! which takes over during surgery when it becomes necessary to stop the human heart," he added. "The pumps Delng used today are much better than they used to be. But they still aren't perfect. There are lots of bugs, which have to be ironed out."
Dr. Chapman said "there's too much talk these days about people relaxing." He said "the relationship between nervous tension and heart disease has not yet been proved" and that "if everyone went around relaxing all the time, we would never get anything accomplished." 1000 Due to Attend
The cardiologist is one of 19 top medical experts scheduled to address sessions of the convention, which is attracting more than 1000 physicians from all parts of the nation.
During interviews and speeches, other convention speakers Monday said:
1.  Some people commit suicide by willing themselves to die.
2.  Some   youngsters   develop repeated   "belly-aches"   even though there is no evidence of physical disorder.
3.  As  new drugs  are  developed, an increasing number of people are becoming poisoned by them.
In discussing "Physiologic Sui-cide," Captain George N. Raines, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy, told of repeated instances of persons wishing themselves to die.
Deaths Unexplained
"There are many unexplained medical deaths, which are actually due to suicide through the physiologic method," said Captain Raines, who is head of the neuropsychiatry branch, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U.S. Navy. "I've known of many cases in which a patient actually committed suicide without external violence. This isn't a new phenomena, of course. During World War II and during the Korean conflict there were many cases of healthy young soldiers, who died, without apparent cause. Later autopsies showed absolutely nothing wrong."
Captain Raines said countless, American soldiers died this way while they were prisoners ofj war in Japanese prison camps.
"Dr. John Nardini, chief of the Naval hospital at Bethesda, Md., told me about them," added the Navy psychiatrist. "Dr.
Nardini was also a prisoner of war. And he said these men would simply give up, wish j themselves dead and promptly die. But you also see this type1 of suicide in civilian life. There was the case of the woman patient, who dropped dead in a doctors office during the first 10 minutes of a psychiatric in-, terview. Her case was obviously one of suicide. Of course, I do not believe everyone can wish themselves dead. But since it is possible, the physician should be on the lookout for it. For if this tendency is recognized in time, something can be done about it."
Captain Raines said voodoo victims come under this cate-| gory, as do victims of "boning," a custom followed by Central Australian tribes, in which j a tribesman points a bone at a fellow tribesman and wishes him dead.
Child Study Told
Dr. James Marvin Baty, of Boston, Mass., told of a study made of 43 children between the ages of 4 and 8 who suffered from recurring abdominal i pains, although there was abso-luately nothing wrong with them physically.
"We examined these youngsters thoroughly and there was' absolutely no evidence of physi-jj cal disorder to account for these pains," added Dr. Baty, who is physiciain-in-chief of the Boston Floating hospital and chief of the Children's Clinic of the Bos-pon Dispensary.
Dr. Baty said "in all cases, however, there was a history of pain climate in the family."
"Someone in the family — mother, father, aunt or uncle — had suffered from abdominal pains," added the pediatrician. "And invariably these youngsters were small worriers. They'd worry about the mother j or father who had a belly-ache, j And, if one of the parents had to undergo surgery, the youngster would begin worrying that perhaps he too was slated for an operation."                            j
Child Worriers             I
Dr. Baty said there was one 5-year-old who worried constantly about death; a 6-year-old who kept worrying about family finances and kept fretting for fear the day might arrive when the family wouldn't have enough to eat.                                        |
"Sometimes," added the pediatrician, "apprehension on the part of the parents had carried over to the child. There was one father who was worried for fear his child would inherit his ulcer. What to do about such cases? Well, we assured both the parents and the children that all tests were negative anc that there was nothing wrong with their children. When both child and parent became convinced, the abdominal pains eased."
Dr. Herbert Rattner, a Chicago, 111., dermatologist, said drug eruptions are recurring these days with increasing frequency.
"Never before in history have so many drugs been taken by so many people," added Dr. Rattner, who is chairman of the department of dermatology, Northwestern university Medical Center.
_The dermatologist said "never before have so many new drugs' and mixtures of drugs been introduced" and that "there isn't any drug which does not make someone break out."
Aspirins May Be Cause
"If a drug doesn't make someone break out, it is not a very good drug," said the dermatologist, who is chief editor of the A. M. A. "Archives of Dermatology." "Drugs taken most frequently such as aspirin, penicillin, sleeping pills and 'happiness pills' naturally cause the most trouble because of their very frequency."
Dr. Rattner said there are no known tests in which it can be determined ahead of time whether a patient is going to break out from a certain drug.
"Once you've broken out, of course, the best treatment is the antihistamins or, with caution, the steriods," he said. "A new drug called penicillinase is said to help overcome penicillin reaction."
Dr. Perrin H. Long, Brooklyn, N> Y., said that "during the past 10 years there have been practically no drugs which haven't produced poisonous reactions in some people."
"But although modern drugs produce more reactions, by the same token they do more good," added the physician, who is chairman of the department of medicine at the State University of New York College of Medicine.  ,
Dr. Long said 50 per cent of the drugs used 10 years ago are not even in use today, so rapid is the turnover. He said that in cases of pneumonia and meningitis, a doctor will take a chance even though a reaction may follow.