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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1978)
I daily nebraskan frlday, September 1, 1978 page 10 Heart scanner .. . Continued from p. 7 X-rays taken at tne precise same moment of each heart beat. The computer then reconstructed the cross-section from the several images taken over the course of several heartbeats. As a result of this research, computer models were de vised which allow scientists to 'dew a cross-section of a heart as it changes shape during a heartbeat or to freeze . - Ua. Chocolate Strawberry Butterscotch Butter Pecan Hot Fudge Raspberry Wild Cherry Double Fudgy Nutty Marshmallow Pineapple ONLY Hurry! Heime" the action as the heart appears at any given moment. The canine studies were necessary, Pao says, to verify the accuracy of the techniques being used. "When you apply it to human beings, you have to be right." While his original work was valuable in developing com puter models, the laboratory scanning procedures for dogs are not transferable to human subjects since the heart can't be removed for scanning. Attaching electrodes by surgical methods is also risky, but without such a proce dure the regularity of the human heartbeat cannot be assured, particularly when considering diseased or ab normal hearts. The other alternative may be the 28-X-ray scanner. Such a machine can cost hundreds of thousands of dol lars to build, but its advantages outweigh t the costs es pecially when human lives are in the balance. The cost may also be offset by eliminating the need for certain diagnostic surgical procedures. No surgery required The fact that the procedure is noninvasive is attractive, Pao notes. It doesn't require going inside the body to gather information as in exploratory surgery or use of radioactive tracers. There is no need to fear dangerous radiation exposure during scanning either, he says. Total exposure during a 28-X-ray scan is no higher than that received during a standard radiography examination, Pao says. By using the scanner, he points out, doctors will be able to project an X-ray cross-section of a heart onto a video terminal where he can "open it up" and rotate it on-screen to get a complete picture; a better look, possibly, than he might get by going inside the body for a first-hand view. The computer technique Pao is using is called finite element analysis and was developed originally for the analysis of aerospace structures. He used a 10-week summer visit in 1975 at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in Cali fornia to help verify his heart model. Pao visited Mayo The UNL professor's interest in biomedical research predates his arrival at the university in 1966 when he worked on life support systems for astronauts as an employee of an aerospace company in California during the mid-1960s. That interest was kept alive during later participation in biomedical programs at the University of Louisville Medical Center and the National Science Foun dation Summer Institute. Pao. spent the summers of 1973 and 1974 as a visiting scientist at the Mayo Clinic. It was out of discussions there that the scanner research developed. Since then, he has made four trips to Rochester each year and is in almost weekly contact by phone. "But I'm just a small part of the overall project," he explains. In addition to the Mayo-based members of the 40-person team, there are several other outside collaborators like himself, Pao says. The recently-approved lung mechanics research is a offshoot of the heart studies, he says. "It's worthwhile to conduct the two together because this way we can get a picture of the entire chest." "This is just the very beginning," Pao comments. "We're studying solely the heart muscle." Future considerations may be the fluid mechanics of the heart's interaction with the blood, he adds. But the important first steps, have been taken. Once scientists are able to see how stresses and strains affect the heart, they will be able not only to diagnose existing problems but also predict what might happen, Pao says. "We're trying to assist the physician in making deci sions," he says. "The more accurate the diagnostic tool, the easier that will be." HELP!!! daily nebraskan NEEDS A MAIL CARRIER & CIRCULATION PEOPLE SHORT HOURS DECENT PAY SEE JERRI, NOW! 34 UNION 01 wmmj GIVE HIM YOUR CARD HE GIVES BACK GREEN ANNOUNCING MARVELOUS MAX...THE MONEY MACHINE Marvelous Max is a friend you can count on. He's Gateway Campus Bank's Automatic Teller Machine. Max works 24-hours a day to serve your financial needs. Located in the Nebraska Union right inside the Campus Bank, he can give ycu cash anytime you need. Simply open a checking or savings ac count and you'll become Max's master. We'll give you your own personal Gateway Instabank Card that turns Max on night or day. Either at the Cam pus Bank or the Main Bank at Gateway Shopping Center. Open your account today Then turn on the Money Machine. CAMPUS RANK Nebraska Union FDIC of f 1 f ;