From SEAN MURRAY-SMITH
I always find your articles very interesting and, being a doctor in
a rural practice, I use your publication as a postgraduate journal.
The article on the portable pump to support failing hearts (Technology,
22 June) has brought home how intellectual isolation can lead to a deterioration
of cerebral function.
For several years now I have been treating my patients as if blood from
the left side of the heart travelled through the aorta and blood from the
right side passed through the pulmonary artery. I am sure you can appreciate
how stunned I was when I read the truth in your article.
To further complicate matters, I have discovered that many of my patients
suffer from the aberrant anatomy in which I believed.
Advertisement
I am currently carrying out surgical correction of all my patients with
this abnormality, but so far my results are rather poor.
Sean Murray-Smith Bedside Manor, Charters Towers Queensland, Australia
