SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS: TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY MEDICINE (TV)
Summary
One in this series of science documentaries hosted by. Alan Alda. This episode focuses on innovative medical technologies that are being tested -- and are changing people's lives in the process. The first segment focuses on image-guided surgery and patient Lynda Tolve. A brain tumor is threatening Tolve's life, but neurosurgeon Peter Black is willing to perform the risky surgical procedure to remove the tumor. Using cutting-edge computer technology, Black creates a model of Tolve's brain, testing areas of the model to see what damage might be caused by the removal of the tumor. The three-dimensional image created by the computer is also used during the operation to help identify different parts of Tolve's brain. During the procedure, Black explains details, and Tolve, who is only under local anesthesia, expresses her gratitude. The surgery proves a success, and Tolve experiences a full recovery.
The second segment focuses on the use of virtual-reality computer technology to treat patients with phobias. Chris Clock suffers from acrophobia, an extreme fear of heights, and has been working with Emory University psychologist Barbara Rothbaum. With the use of technology created by Larry Hodges of Georgia Tech, Rothbaum and Clock are able to conquer the patient's fear. Hodges has designed a virtual-reality helmet that can simulate a three-dimensional reality in which patients feel "virtual fear"; by donning the helmet and encountering the heights it manufactures, Clock obtains an opportunity to deal with his phobia in a controlled environment. In the third segment, viewers learn that Lillian Cooper has had to give up her hobby of mall walking because of a narrowed artery in her left leg. With the help of Dr. Jeffrey Isner she is trying gene therapy. Isner introduces into Cooper's narrowed artery a gene that produces a chemical that stimulates the growth of new blood vessels. If the implantation is successful, new blood vessels will grow and improve the blood flow in Cooper's leg. Six months after the procedure, Cooper is back at the mall with her fellow walkers.
The fourth segment features "telepresent surgery," a research project funded largely by the military and used in battlefield medicine. Alda interviews Dr. Rick Satava, a colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, about the problem of getting soldiers the care they need when they are injured in the battlefield. Dr. Jon Bowersox has been working with engineers on developing a system through which a surgeon can perform long-distance procedures. He demonstrates the use of a machine that guides the movements of surgical tools at work on a faraway patient. The final segment focuses on patients Dan Kemp and Eric Bellamy. Paralyzed from the waist down, both are in the process of having electrodes implanted in their leg muscles by Dr. Byron Marsolais. A small computer guides the electrodes, which stimulate the muscles, causing movement. Although the therapy is challenging, with the help of the electrodes Kemp is able to stand, and Bellamy can actually walk and climb stairs. The electrodes do not give the patient control of his or her muscles but rather act as a substitute for the nervous impulses that would normally be received from the brain. With the help of his fifty implanted electrodes, Bellamy is able to climb the stairs of a bus and take a seat. Kemp's eight electrodes allow him to stand and to fulfill his goal of looking his wife in the eye and hugging her.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Alan Alda.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: April 3, 1996 Wednesday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:19
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:61911
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries; Science/Nature
- SUBJECT HEADING: Medicine - Research; Surgery, Experimental
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV Series, 1990-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Angier … Executive Producer
- Graham Chedd … Executive Producer
- Graham Chedd … Producer, Director, Writer
- Andrew Liebman … Producer, Director, Writer
- Jill Singer … Producer, Director, Writer
- Bonnie Waltch … Producer, Director, Writer
- John Angier … Producer, Director, Writer
- Sherry Lassiter … Producer, Director, Writer
- Laura DeBonis … Associate Producer
- Christopher George … Associate Producer
- Jill Soley … Associate Producer
- Randy Roos … Music by
- Alan Alda … Host, Narrator
- Eric Bellamy
- Peter Black
- Jon Bowersox
- Chris Clock
- Lillian Cooper
- Larry Hodges
- Jeffrey Isner
- Dan Kemp
- Byron Marsolais
- Barbara Rothbaum
- Rick Satava
- Linda Tolve