![]() ![]() infarct |
Eisenhower had a left anterior myocardial infarction in September 1955, while on vacation at
his in-laws' house in Denver. He was transported by car to Fitzsimmons Veterans Hospital and
placed in an oxygen tent. His EKG showed ventricular and supraventricular premature beats.
Although he developed a friction rub, he was treated with heparin
1.
Eisenhower broke with precedent and released detailed information about his illness to the
public, but nevertheless, some of what the public learned was carefully choreographed
MORE
1.
Eisenhower's long term treatment included coumadin 35 mg/wk, a low fat diet, and maintenance
of weight at 175 pounds
SEE BELOW
1a.
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Compared to today, of course, much less was known about the role of fat and
cholesterol in coronary artery disease in Eisenhower's time. It is hard
to believe that people ate as they did in the 1950s and 1960s. (We will
see this again in the discussion of
Lyndon Johnson's
heart disease.)
For example, here's what Eisenhower ate on the day of his infarct
1b:
Of course, it was probably Eisenhower's 4-pack-a-day cigarette habit which did the most damage to his arteries. He quit cold-turkey in 1949 2a. The pace of Eisenhower's recovery from his infarction is also interesting. Summarized in the table below 1, it seems slow by today's standards, but for the time was remarkably aggressive. In 1955, patients with a myocardial infarction were routinely kept in bed for 6 months afterwards, and Dr. Paul Dudley White was criticized by his contemporaries for mobilizing the President so quickly. In retrospect, Eisenhower's "rapid" recovery after his infarction changed the way infarct patients were treated thereafter [???ref.]. Today, patients with an uncomplicated myocardial infarction spend just a few days in the hospital.
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a p.123 b p.116
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a p.488
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