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I'm A retired Truck Driver from Frank Smith Trucking in Long Beach, Ca. I have 2 boys and 4 dauthers and 18 grandkids and 1 great granddaughter. I just love to help people with their PC.

Cleveland Clinic
Poor mans Transplant
Strengthens weak heart
December 7, 1992


Cardiomyoplasty

The experimental procedure call for recruiting back muscles to help the heart to perform its
important work.

Niles---- Rail-thin scared and a bit weak these days, Bob Young may not evoke the traditional image of the stalwart pioneer.
Dont be fooled for Young has journeyed to the frontier of medicine and says he is better for it. Scars tell his tale.
In his McKinley Towers apartment, the 52-year old former truck driver tugged up his shirt and revealed to a visitor the lengthy incision carved onto his chest, back and stomach. He points out the barely discernible bulge near his waistline where a pacemaker was implanted.
The experimental medical procedure responsible for these changes in Youngs body was intended to restore his damaged heart.
One of seven: Known as cardiomyoplasty, the operation has been performed at the Cleveland Clinic on only seven patients, including Mr Young.
The operation entails wrapping a latissimus dorsi muscle from the a patients back around his heart. A pacemaker planted inside the body electrically stimulates the muscle to squeeze the heart, helping it perform its essential task.
This is a fantastic thing said Young, who had been forced in the past to take extensive medication and undergo frequent hospital visits as a result of his weak heart. He had endured discomfort, uncertainty and an inability to live as fully as he wished.
Before the operation, they told me I could nave gone into heart failure at any time Young related.
He first learned of cardiomyoplasty when his friend, Betty Maze of Niles, read about it and related her discovery to Young.
After about three days of testing to determine his candidacy for the operation, Young underwent the five- to six hour procedure Dec. 7 and was discharged from the clinic Christmas Eve.
Several weeks late, he returned temporarily to the clinic after the incision in his back showed reluctance in healing.
But despite the minor set back, Young said he is recovering. He added that he feels more energetic now --- weeks away from his expected recovery date --- then he had never felt in the years before the operation.
Surgeon Sharing Youngs enthusiasm is his surgeon Dr. Delos M. Cosgrove 111, chairman of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
Its an exciting first step, said Dr Cosgrove, who envision a future when people with serious heart problems will have options other than a heart transplant ----a difficult endeavor for witch relatively few donors can be found.
Dubbing the cardiomyoplasty a poor mans heart transplant, Dr Cosgrove added We havent been able to do much in the past for people whose heart muscles are shot. But were making inroads. This is a new approach.
The back muscle recruited to assist in pumping Youngs heart must be conditioned for their work, Dr Cosgrove explained.
You have to condition them over a period of time like you do an athlete
Although the pacemaker used in the procedure is still awaiting U.S Food and Drug Administration approval, Dr Cosgrove says he is optimistic about the future of Cardiomyopylasties, given their impact on patients so far.
Weve seen dramatic improvement in some people, other people have shown less improvement. Were trying to learn whos going to benefit the most, he said.
New life: With spring on its way, Young looks forward to fishing, and camping two joys that him damaged heart made it difficult to pursue.
Young said his pioneering experience has altered him beyond the impact of his body.
It makes me feel like a completely different guy; like somebody gave me a new lease on life, he said.

By Norman Leigh
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF