Rolled-Up Sleeves
In Health Care

page 110

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the scene

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Hits National Cut ... page 118

spotlight

travel

F

or more than 10 years,
a group of Detroit
physicians and
researchers has traveled
regularly to Hyderabad, India, to
study balloon valvuloplasty,
which treats blockage of the
heart's mitral valve.
Valvuloplasty uses a balloon,
inserted through a catheter in the
patient's leg, to open up the
blocked valve.
Doctors expected it to work
better, at least on a short-term
basis, than surgery, the only
treatment previously available.
However, no one had conducted
any large-scale comparisons of
the two treatments.
Dr. Zoltan Turi, a Detroit
Medical Center cardiologist and
professor of medicine at Wayne
State University, had a longstand-

ing interest in heart valve disease.
Dr. Turi said blockage of the
mitral valve usually results from
rheumatic fever.
"Rheumatic heart disease is an
inflammatory process. It can take
20 to 30 years before the patient
is aware that the heart is affect-
ed," he said.
Dr. Joshua Wynne, a cardiolo-
gist and professor of medicine at
Wayne State University, said
penicillin and better living condi-
tions have made rheumatic fever
rare in the United States and
research difficult. Harper
Hospital, one of the few hospi-
tals in Michigan where valvulo-
plasty is performed, treats less
than 100 patients annually.
The researchers 10 years ago
chose Hyderabad because of the
ODYSSEY ON PAGE 108

An artist's drawing of the valvuloplasty procedure.

c@EQ1

Odyssey

Above:
Dr. Zoltan Turi
Right:
Dr. Joshua Wynne

A heart valve procedure takes
local Jewish doctors to India.

Dr. Zoltan Turi was born in Hungary and emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1956. He was raised in
New York and New Jersey, graduated from Harvard and the Columbia University Medical School. He, his
wife and son belong to Temple Kol Ami.
Dr. Joshua Wynne was born and raised in New York. He has a combined undergradu-
ate/medical degree from Boston University. He is a private pilot and was among the first
group of civilian pilots to fly from Israel to Jordan in May 1995.
Barbara Fromm, who has a master's degree in biostatistics, came to Detroit in the 1980s
when her husband, Dr. David Fromm, was named chairman of the department of surgery at
Wayne State and surgeon-in-chief at the Detroit Medical Center. They were charter mem-
bers of the Grosse Pointe Jewish Council.
Dr. Susan Farkas was born and educated in Hungary and came to Detroit in 1988. She
and her family live in Grosse Pointe and also are founders of the east side Jewish group.

3/19

1999

Detroit Jewish News

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