Patching Arteries With Cellophane Saves Many Lives

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 58, 28 February 1949, Page 7

Patching Arteries With Cellophane Saves Many Lives

The use of pieces of cellophane as patches to prevent blow-outs in the great artery of the human body is announced in a recent issue of the American Heart Journal. The artery is the aorta, main channel carrying blood from the heart to the entire body. Sometimes it bulges out on one side, exactly like an inner tube that is about to blow. The potential blow-outs which were prevented by cellophane patches were caused by syphilis, and were described by Dr. J. K. Poppe, of Portland, Ore. Six persons were treated. In each case the aorta was bared by surgery, and a piece of cellophane cut to fit over the bulge. Where possible, the cellophane was wrapped entirely around the great blood vessel. The six are all alive and the operation was done on some of them two years ago. The cellophane patch in every case, Dr. Poppe reported, eased pains that had been due to throbbing and pulsating of the bulge. The patch also caused growth of dense tissues in the aorta and those parts of the chest on which it pressed. These new tissues resemble scars. They strengthen the weakened part of the artery and give it support against further bulging. Dr. Poppe said only one kind of cellophane (polythene) has this tissue-building effect. When these bulges are not wrapped, they are likely to break like a tyre blow-out and kill the patient.