Word: talc
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Dates: during 1950-1950
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...Slitter. As Dr. Thompson describes it, the operation works this way: the heart sac is slit open, then two drams of especially fine talc are spread on the inside of the sac membrane. Fine as it is, the talc acts as an irritant. The sac becomes inflamed and much more blood courses through it; then it adheres to the heart muscle, and its blood-gorged vessels throw out branches into the muscle. These branches increase the muscle's blood supply and, hence, its power to keep the heart beating...
...talc stays there the rest of the patient's lifetime. Technically it is a constant irritant, but the patient is unaware of it. All he knows is that he feels better. Most who have had the operation have been relieved of the agonizing spasms of angina pectoris and the paralyzing fear. Many have gone back to work-one from a wheelchair to loading trucks...
...little used? One objection offered by some surgeons is that while it increases the heart muscle's blood supply, the increase is not strong enough. Cleveland's noted Heart Surgeon Claude Shaeffer Beck invented a powder operation (using ground-up beef bone or asbestos instead of talc), then put it aside in favor of a more radical job-revamping the heart's plumbing system by an arterial graft (TIME, June...
...novel about Zululand in the form of a monologue by a homicidal maniac has the makings of a rather engaging talc. Unfortunately, when much of the story consists of "Chicken Every Sunday" family incidents, the musings of a madman are hardly the appropriate narrative device. Only the excellent and perceptive writing and the author's wide knowledge of the locale rescue the book fro the awkwardness of the plot...