The Patient Doing Well

Michigan's first heart transplant and the first in the world in which the head surgeon sought anonymity was successfully performed today at University Hospital. It was the world's 50th heart switch. Philip T. Barnum, 49, of Kalamazoo was the ent of a heart f rom a 38year-old Southern Michigan Prison inmate in an operation that began at [ 11:48 p.m. yesterday and ended at 5:15 a.m. today. The Kalamazoo father of four was "awake and smiling" when he was moved this morning from the operating room to a specially sterilized room in the U-M Medical Center Clinical Research Unit, according to Dr., Roger B. Nelson, associate director of the hospital. Nelson reported at an 11:30 a.m. press conference that BarMm had suffered a cardiac arL following the heart He said, however, that Barnum was promptly resuscitated and that his heart is now functioning smoothly, his blood pressure is satisfactory and that other bodily functions are normal. Dr. Nelson said it is not likely the new heart suffered damage during the cardiac arrest. It was aiso reported there have been no signs evident at the moment of any rejection of thá new heart. Barnum has been speaking with his nurses and doctors and seems to be in good spirits, Nelson said. "Despite the f act that things went smoothly, we are not yet out of the woods as far as Mr. Barnum is concerned," Dr. Nelson said. He added Barnum has been "awake and alert" except for the period of the cardiac arrest. The doctors are now using a pacemaker to assist the new heart, he reported. Speaking, at a press conference following the operation, he said "the 22-member team worked wel! together aad clicked fectly. The operation kvery smoothly. Tiie way ■ went it would have ?ared we had done many of them." Nelson said "the heart started with a shock at 3:02 a.m. assumed a normal, regular! beat af ter some slight flutter-l I ing. Therapy with imuran andl [ steroides to combat the rejec-j tion factörwatartëTsöon aft-' er surgery. U-M doctors used the Barnard modification of the Shumway technique" in performing the operation, he said. The technique was developed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard who performed the world's first heart transplant in Cape Town, South África, on Dec. 3, 1967, and Dr. Norman E. Shumway of Stanford University who performed the world's third heart transplant last Jan. 7. The donor, who suffered a stroke and was pronounced dead at University Hospital about 11:45 p.m. yesterday, remains anonymous at the request of nis f amily. (The Associated Press this afternoon identified the donor as 38-year-old Herman Opdenhof of Pontiac, an inmate of Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson.) The surgical team which performed the dual operation also has requested anonymity, but it is believed the team may have been headed either by Dr. Donald R. Kahn, professor of thoracic surgery, or Dr. Herbert E. Sloan Jr., professor of surgery and one of the nation's foremost heart experts. Nelson told newsmen that "the donor 's heart was a healthy normal heart which is not expected to give any problems." The donor's heart was in the recipient's body in about nine minutes following the death, he noted. Barnum, former h e a d of the state automobile license bureau in Kalamazoo and a Democratie candidate for election to the Kalamazoo County Board of Supervisors in the November election, was suffering from cardiac myopathy or degeneration of the heart muscle. He had been transferred from Arm Arbor Veteran's Hospital to University Hospital on Aug. 8 for a heart transplant as a last resort to save his life, but a suitable donor had not been available until yesterday. Asked by reporters how much Icnger Barnum would have lived without a new heart, Nelson said "perhaps a few days, two weeks, or possibly a month or two." U-M doctors reported in a release to newsmen following the surgery that "Barnum's new heart is maintaining good circulation. His blood pressure is normal, 120 over 80, and his pulse is 100. This is much better than he had before the operatien." Nelson said "the first few days following surgery will be critical. But that does not mean that the recipiënt is in critical condition. His condition at this time is excellent." Sarns, Inc., of 6200 Jackson Rd., Scio Township, designed and built the heart pumps which have made this and other heart transplant operations possile, according to a hospital spokesman. U-M doctors in their press report said two of the Sarns beart pumps were used "one to perfuse the donor heart and the other to maintain Barnum. Fifteen pints of blood were used for Barnum's pump and he was en the pump for two hours and 15 minutes." Nelson told reporters that he was aware of three potential heart transplant recipients at University Hospital who had died since the U-M team had been ready to perform sueh surgery beginning last April because a donor had not been available. He said the U-M team is ready to perform other heart transplants when there are suitable donors for recipients. The world's 49th heart transplan! was reported completed near last midnight at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Tex., a few hours before the 50th such operation was completed in Arm Arbor. Barnum's wife, Aileen, a doctor's receptionist in Kalamazoo remained nearby at University Hospital until 3:30 a.m. today when reports came through that her husband's new heart was functioning perfectly. With her were a daughter, Mrs. Ronald Sheldon of Adrián, and her husband. The Barnum's I have two other daughters, Sheryl Anne, 19, an education major at Western Michigan University and Nancy Rae, 17, a senior at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, and a sonl Army Pvt. Thomas Barnum, 21,1 who was recently flown home] on emergency leave from his unit ia Vietnam. Things looked bleak for Barnum and his family late in August when the U-M Medical Center Clinical Research Unit, where his expenses were being paid by a National Institute of Health grant, was closed because federal funds supporting the unit ran out. (The Clinical Research Unit has since been reopened onalïmïtëa basis.) The heart transplant recipiënt who didn't have funds to pay his hospital bilí and was uninsurable because of his condition was moved to a general hospital unit where he was required to pay his own hospital costs. However, an anonymous donor soon pledged up to $20,000 and others sent in hundreds of dollars to pay Barnum's hospital and surgery expenses. Nelson told newsmen the operation in itself would probably cost in the vicinity of $5,000, including the first week of intensive care. Under procedures set earlier by University Hospital, the transplant team was to include four physicians, four nurses, two technicians to opérate the Sarns heart-lung machine, and an anesthesiologist, as well as a technician to monitor electronic equipment. The donor's team was to have been similar, except for the absence of the anesthesiologist and monitoring technician. Death ofthe donor in Michigan's first heart transplant was attested to by a neurosurgeon, neurologist and an EEG specialists. "In practically all other deaths, only physicians' observations suffrce," U-M doctors said in their press report. (Related story on Page 15)