Michael Braukus

Headquarters, Washington, DC May 19, 1997

(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Linda Copley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Lori Rachul
Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH
(Phone: 216/433-8806)

Rob Whitehouse
The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
(Phone: 216/444-8927)

RELEASE: 97-101

NASA AWARDS GRANT TO CLEVELAND CLINIC TO STUDY

THE EFFECTS OF SPACE FLIGHT ON ASTRONAUTSÕ HEARTS

In preparation for an inhabited International Space Station

at the end of this century, The Cleveland Clinic and NASA will
study ways to monitor the effects of long-term space flight on
the human heart and develop conditioning regimens to counteract
those effects.

This morning at The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, NASA

Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and U.S. Representative Louis
Stokes announced a two-year, $4 million grant to support the
research and development of a digital echocardiography lab at
The Clinic.

"We know that astronauts who spend longer periods of time

in space experience cardiovascular 'de-conditioning.' They
return to Earth weakened and with low blood pressure, less
blood volume, and a loss of tone to their blood vessels," said
James D. Thomas, M.D., F.A.C.C., director of Cardiovascular
Imaging at The Cleveland Clinic. "However, we don't know why
this happens and if the heart itself is weakened. Whether
people are going to live in space stations or embark on long-
term missions to other worlds, we must better understand and
then counteract this de-conditioning process."

"This Cooperative Agreement is the result of the vision

Congressman Louis Stokes had that prompted NASA to explore the
capabilities of The Clinic, and we're glad we did," said Daniel
S. Goldin, NASAÕs administrator. "It partners the expertise of
The Clinic and the Johnson Space Center to enable planned human
space endeavors and to improve the quality of life on Earth."

Digital echocardiographic equipment will be on the Space

Station when it is operational. Echocardiography is more
practical for life in space than other imaging techniques, such
as magnetic resonance imaging, because it requires less power,
is noninvasive, is small and versatile, and is not magnetic or
radioactive, said Dr. Thomas.

Before the station is operational, researchers at the

Cleveland Clinic and NASA must:

· develop methods of compressing the digital data from the

echocardiogram so it can be quickly and clearly relayed to
physicians on Earth;
· train astronauts and NASA personnel to perform the
echocardiograms and develop protocols for using the
equipment in outer space; and
· better understand the effects of weightlessness on the heart
and enact a conditioning regimen for astronauts in space.

"The digital echocardiography lab at The Clinic will allow

physicians here to view astronauts' heart function, make
diagnoses, and prescribe a course of action. In a sense, itÕll
be our first extraterrestrial house call," said Dr. Thomas.

The results of this collaborative project will have an

impact on health care on Earth. For example, Dr. Thomas
explained, the data compression techniques will further enhance
the growing field of telemedicine by allowing for the
transmission of clearer images between sites. The Cleveland
Clinic currently uses telemedicine technology to link medical
specialists in Cleveland to patients as near as The Clinic's
suburban family health centers and as far away as the Middle
East and Central America.

"In addition, all of this new imaging technology will help

us better study the function of the heart and detect previously
unseen leakages through heart valves and subtle abnormalities
that can lead to congestive heart failure," said Dr. Thomas.
"Three-dimensional echocardiography soon will be the norm, and
thanks to this cooperative agreement with NASA, we'll be at the
leading edge of it."

This is not the first such cooperative effort between The

Cleveland Clinic and NASA. In 1995, they announced a three-
year pact to collaborate on a number of research projects that
will benefit both the space program and the general public. In
one of those projects, researchers also are focusing on the
health effects of weightlessness on astronauts, specifically on
how it causes a degeneration of bone in the feet and lower
legs. There, too, researchers are developing conditioning
exercises to stimulate bone growth in outer space.

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