NEW FRONTIERS OF MEDICINE

[Music] la [Applause] [Music] a friendly and familiar figure throughout America is the family doctor making his appointed [Music] rounds keeping vigil over the health of his community the family doctor is a man on whose broad medical knowledge most citizens must rely today American doctors many with invaluable wartime experience offer a medical service which at its best is second to none in the world I'm going to give you something new that we use with good results in the Navy you'll be all right in a few days indispensable to every physician are the remarkable new medicines recently developed the sulfur drugs and such other antibiotics as penicillin and streptomycin these and many other new discoveries are a vital part of the modern Sciences taught student physicians in the nation's 70 Medical Schools traditional since hypocrates and galin is teaching by clinical example for medicine has always been an art handed down from Master to [Music] pupil and today American Medical Education is distinguished by its emphasis on Direct experience the young student follows through on individual cases Guided by his experienced Elders thus upon graduation he begins his career better equipped than any doctor in history so great has been the progress of American Medicine that Physicians the world over now come to the United States to observe and learn reversing the old custom of American doctors going to Europe techniques developed over the years have produced a fuller understanding of blood characteristics new tests detect the mysterious RH blood factor which in the past has meant death to many [Music] babies only recently have transfusionist learned to replace almost completely RH positive blood with Rh negative an operation that saves many lives [Music] a great discovery of medical technology is the new artificial kidney which temporarily does the work of those that are diseased saving many a patient whose own kidneys are unable to [Music] function among today's miracles of surgery are the new operations on the brain combining the surgeon's skill with delicate scientific apparatus through such operations inconceivable 10 years ago the physical and mental health of many patients is being restored today with preventive medicine assuming a new importance knowledge gained from experiments and nutrition is being applied to promote well-being and to build up resistance to disease observing the reaction of laboratory rats to highquality diets Dr Henry Sherman of Columbia University concludes that human lives may be lengthened by 10% if nutrition in early years is carefully planned at Harvard this knowledge is being put into practice by Dr Frederick stair among Dr st's projects is an outstanding program in the schools of Newton Massachusetts where by scientific demonstration he is teaching children how to choose and prepare the right Foods by watching their own growth the children learn what good nutrition can do thus through better feeding tomorrow's citizens can achieve Sounder minds and bodies than ever [Music] before another Trend in today's medicine is group practice where a number of Physicians sharing the same quarters pull their talents in a single medical service an example of one type of group practice is Boston's famed Ley Clinic founded by Dr Frank Ley one of America's noted surgeons in cases difficult to diagnose there is considerable advantage in a medical system where Specialists May consult with specialist within the same organization [Music] sharing the same facilities and staff enables doctors to offer better and more comprehensive service to their patients at lower cost one of the great advances in modern medicine has been the development of Psychiatry organizations such as the New York psychoanalytic Institute have helped gain General acceptance for theories considered radical when first Advanced some 50 years ago by Dr Sigman Freud [Music] the relationship between childhood frustrations and Disturbed adult Behavior has been clearly traced by such authorities as Dr R Spitz of New York distressing experiences in childhood May set up patterns which in later life will produce mental conflicts such conflicts lead to the same feeling of insecurity which was felt as a child when such conflicts paralyze the individ ual preventing him from acting freely he is said to have a Neurosis let us see how a Neurosis develops here is a baby happy in its mother's love it feels secure even when with strangers as you see [Music] now note the contrast this is the same child after it had been deprived of its mother for 3 months as you see its expression is mask like similar to that of an adult suffering from depression its emotional reactions may have been permanently impaired by this early experience of of frustration and a serious conflict May develop on this basis which could affect its whole adult life by far the greatest number of deaths in the United States today is chargeable to heart disease which in increasing steadily over the past quarter Century now claims over half a million victims each [Music] year to a public becoming increasingly health conscious the annual figures on heart disease seem grave cause for alarm but heart specialists such as New York Hospital's Dr Harold J Stewart offer some reassurance people should not be too excited about the rise in death rate of heart diseases people nowadays are living longer and there are older Hearts every doctor has patients who have been frightened by newspaper publicity and by over anxious friends into thinking they have heart disease more often they are the victims not of heart disease but of imagination Physicians point out that with scientific advances steadily lowering the death rate from other diseases thousands who would once have died at an early age now live to Advanced years to succumb eventually to heart disease with the rise in death rate from heart ailments doctors intensified their studies and evolved a new field of specialization in cardiovascular disease the study and treatment of the heart and blood vessels gains in knowledge have enabled the doctor toat treat his patients according to the origin and nature of their cardiovascular disorder almost 10% of all patients are suffering from hearts that have been attacked by syphilis another 35 to 40% are victims of rheumatic heart disease those hearts which have begun to degenerate with the passing of years due to hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure make up another 45% doctors now possess scientific aids to detect and classify heart abnormalities under the fluoroscope the heart can be observed in motion through x-ray photographs revealing the heart size and shape defects once a matter of conjecture can frequently be ascertained another instrument of Great Value to heart specialists is the electrocardiograph Manute electrical currents generated from within the heart trace a record from which The Physician can make a diagnosis reassuring to every doctor is the regular throb of the healthy human [Music] heart but a Stern warning signal is the tumult of the defective heart [Music] [Music] [Applause] a typical case of cardiac trouble is that of Charlie Abbott who at 7even was believed to have Growing Pains such aches and pains may mean rheumatic fever so devastating to Young Hearts when he was 12 Charlie found that he hadn't the physical stamina to keep up with the other boys later in life after he had been working for a while at a strenuous job something happened what's the matter I don't know guess I'm all in you better see a doctor today Charlie Abbott knows that his childhood growing pains were rheumatic fever and from now on he must take things easy rheumatic fever victims are not beyond help but there are in existence all too few up-to-date institutions where young convalescence can be helped to recover or to adjust their lives to the limitations imposed by permanently damaged heart complimenting the clinical care of patients is the Intensive work carried on in the nation's Laboratories where scientists are diligently seeking the basic causes of heart disease at famed Rockefeller Institute in New York Dr Homer Swift spent years trying to Solve the Riddle of rheumatic fever at other centers Pathologists such as Dr Harry goldblat have been seeking the cause of high blood [Music] pressure the Yale medical school's former Dean Dr Milton winternitz did important work in studying hardening of the arteries a major cause of heart disease another formidable disease is tuberculosis private contributions have helped to educate the public to its dangers bringing about the establishment of government financed hospitals adequate medical attention better hygiene and improved treatment have decreased the mortality rate from this disease since 1900 by more than 75% the annual March of Dimes has dramatized the dangers of dread polio myelitis which strikes mainly at the Young of those attacked by this disease as many as 25,000 in a bad year some 20% may be crippled for life and another 25% may be left with minor [Music] handicaps how many have cancer today in the US no man knows but it kills over 170,000 people a year scientists have discovered that in this disease body cells once normal run wild and multiply crazily what causes this is one of the riddles men puzzle over in their Laboratories through a lifetime some men like Dr James B of New York have sought the answer in the components of cells experiments on animals in whom cancer has been artificially induced yield some information valuable observations on the causes and transmission of cancer have been made by such scientists as M Sly of Chicago and Dr Clarence little of Bar [Music] Harbor at Columbia University Dr Francis Carter wood long-headed in institution concentrating on the treatment of cancer but progress is slow and costly and great amounts of money are needed to build upon the groundwork already laid new scientific weapons have been brought in to help deeple xray which penetrates to the seat of the ailment radium a mineral which shoots a barrage of electronic bullets aimed at disintegrating the malignant growth hospitals are now pioneering in Isotopes byproducts of the atomic age one of these radioactive iodine gives hope of successfully attacking cancer of the thyroid in New York's Memorial Hospital the experimental work of scientists is coordinated with clinical experience and new surgical techniques in an attempt to isolate and root out the causes of cancer a beginning has been made and the number of cured cases of cancer increases yearly as the public learns the necessity for early detection and treatment of the disease emphasis is laid on periodic checkups for the whole family for if cancer can be caught at an early stage it can be treated more rapidly and effectively and often completely cured many hospitals are opening cancer clinics staffed by Specialists to provide treatment for everyone at low cost slowly the mystery of this strange disease is being penetrated to reveal more and more of its Origins and of the factors which may cause it to spread uncontrollably through the human body thus The Specialist and the research scientist and the family doctor are together gaining ground in their unremitting war against disease giving to men New Hope of relief from Pain and Disability and of a longer span of life to be lived in health and strength and social usefulness