Old heart treatment finds new proponents

Medical treatments often fall out of favor after they have been used for a while and newer treatments become available. For example, a surgical procedure for cleaning out the coronary arteries that was developed in the 1950s is used much less frequently today than coronary bypass surgery. But as the population grows older, cardiologists are seeing more patients with advanced artery disease who are ineligible for bypass operations. Now School of Medicine researchers have determined that many of these patients might benefit from the older procedure, coronary endarterectomy.

To perform this endarterectomy, surgeons open up the chest, cut open the blocked coronary artery, remove the blockage and sew up the artery wall.

The researchers determined outcomes of 177 patients who underwent this procedure between 1986 and 1997 at Washington University Medical Center. "We concluded that coronary endarterectomy can be performed with an acceptable risk and good long-term results in patients whose vessels are not otherwise graftable," said Thoralf M. Sundt III, M.D., associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery. Sundt and colleagues reported their findings in a recent issue of Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

Blocked arteries

To find out how people with advanced heart disease fare after coronary endarterectomy, the researchers examined computerized medical records of the 177 patients and obtained follow-up data by phone and a questionnaire. The mean interval between the surgery and the follow-up was 56 months.

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Gilbert Jost elected to board of leading radiological society

R. Gilbert Jost, M.D., interim head of Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, has been elected to the board of directors of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), the largest of the radiological societies.

Jost will serve as a liaison for communications and corporate relations for five years before chairing the board during the sixth year. He is the first faculty member from Mallinckrodt Institute to serve on the eight-member board and will become RSNA president-elect in 2007 and president the following year.

A professor of radiology at the School of Medicine, Jost has been director of diagnostic radiology since 1985. He is responsible for diagnostic radiology services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital, Doctors Hospital and the BJC Health Centers located throughout metropolitan St. Louis. He also is an affiliate professor of computer science at the University.

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Medical school faculty receive grants totaling $10 million

Numerous School of Medicine faculty recently have received grants of $1 million or more to fund research on topics ranging from the hepatitis C virus to neuropeptides to a tropical parasite called Leishmania.

Charles M. Rice, Ph.D., professor of molecular microbiology, has received a five-year $1.9 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.

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Reich team to study genetics of two psychiatric illnesses

School of Medicine investigators led by Theodore Reich, M.D., the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Psychiatry and professor of genetics, have received $11.2 million in grants to study the genetic causes of alcoholism and bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness.

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