1960's Medicine and Health | Heart Surgery: Endarterectomy

Clogged Arteries.

Cholesterol and various fats some-times reach excessive levels in the bloodstream. One of the body's responses is to deposit some of the greasy mix on the inside walls of arteries. These deposits build up over time to form large plaques on the vessel walls, a condition known as atherosclerosis. If the buildup gets thick enough, the artery can be blocked off completely, but before this happens a very thin and irregular section of blood flow can lead to blockage by blood clots. When the flow of blood is severely restricted, the cells served by the artery die. When coronary arteries are affected, the result may be a heart attack.

Cleaning the Arteries.

The technique of endarterectomy, the reaming out of arteries, was developed to re-move the plaques and reopen clogged vessels. Drs. Philip Sawyer, Martin Kaplitt, and Sol Sobel of the Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn developed gas endarterectomy for...