Despite the rising tide of opposition to his findings, Dr. Forssmann pushed on. His subsequent experiments with rabbits and dogs (and ultimately himself) proved that catheterization angiography could not be achieved with simply sodium iodide. He developed the use of groin catheterization to reach the inferior vena cava through the femoral veins. Dr. Forssmann’s further experiments in aortography proved unfruitful. By this time, he had decided to stop his self-experimentation, having reached his limits with exploration. Instead he decided to seek work as a local urologist in a small German farming community.
In 1956, Forssmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine, which he shared with André Cournand, MD, and Dickinson W. Richards, MD, who were affiliated with Columbia University, New York City. When offered a job to head a German cardiovascular institute, Dr. Forssmann declined, citing his lack of knowledge about advancements in the field since his last self-experimentation in 1935. TH
Reference
- Altman, Lawrence K. Who Goes First: The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine. New York: Random House; 1987.
Historic Puzzler ANSWER: ”The Root of the Problem“
The answer to our third puzzler
By Jamie Newman, MD, FACP
There were several correct answers to the Historic Puzzler #3 (September, p. 10), but the best family effort award goes to Juan Solis, MD, a former hospitalist who now runs a private practice in internal medicine/geriatrics in Ohio, and his sisters—Rosa A. Solis, MD, a hospitalist in Binghamton, N.Y., and Regina A. Solis-Pastor, MD, a dermatologist.
Juan was showing off his name in The Hospitalist to his sisters when Regina pointed out Puzzler #3. Rather serendipitously she remembered seeing what we described on cable TV in the Philippines.
The captain of the expedition was James Cook, the naturalist was George Forster, and the root was kava kava. Juan looked up the herb and found the possible offending chemical component to be pipermethystine—seemingly found more on the leaves and stems of the plant than on the root itself. Neuro-ophthalmologic side effects include weakness, lack of coordination, lethargy, and change in mental status—even Parkinsonism. Dermatologic manifestations include xerosis (parchment-like, mosaic) and leprous ulcers. TH
Puzzler Special Recognition
And the best track record to date award goes to Collin Kroen, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, the only one to solve all three puzzlers! Bijo Chacko, MD, the hospitalist program medical director at Central Brooklyn Medical Group, N.Y., and Alberto Burgos-Tiburcio, MD, Caritas Carney Hospital, Dorchester, Mass., are two for three.
So if you see a scaly, wild-eyed Polynesian lurching down the beach, have no fears, they may have been dipping into the coconut bowl once too often.—JN