Re: An Ounce of Cardiac Prevention?

[Guest guest]

Mel Siff wrote:

<< [The Editor of Personal Fitness Professional magazine] needs to have been

a little more cautious in what he wrote. I do not know the full medical case

history of Kile, but I would never state that " his death could have been

prevented

if he had been aware of his condition and sought the proper treatment " because a

large

percentage of the population which experiences heart attacks or other cardiac

events

show no clinical or preclinical signs of any heart condition.>

** You are so right. The author with his arrogant statements shows his

total lack of medical insight.

The classic illustration of the difficulties in diagnosing coronary

atherosclerosis is the story of the astronaut Chuck Grissom. As you

can well imagine, astronauts are carefully screened. Yet when he made

the first EVA ever it was cut short by changes in his EKG being

monitored by NASA.

After his return to earth he was subjected to every test except a

cardiac cath. Astronauts have the right to refuse a cardiac cath.

He was cleared for further flights but died after a fire in the

capsule during a test flight.

[Yes, cardiac cath or angiography carries its own very real dangers so

that it is never regarded as simple routine procedure. Interestingly,

the surgeons who operated on me wrote in their official report that

they were very surprised during surgery to see how much more arterial

occlusion there was in four of my coronary arteries than they originally

had anticipated, because the angiogram did not suggest the massive extent

of my disease. In other words, even an invasive procedure like the angio will

not necessarily give a definitive picture of the full extent of coronary artery

disease. How any fitness professional can believe that simple non-technological

testing in the local health club will provide adequate cardiac screening

is anyone's guess. Your use of the word " arrogant " rings quite true in that

regard. Mel Siff]

Autopsy revealed severe coronary artery disease.

This story was told by Dr Eliot, who had been medical chief at

NASA, during a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

Harvey Maron, M.D.

Steamboat Springs, CO