Saturday’s roundup: A spoonful of medicine

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On Saturday, it was time to take a dose of medicine. Among the broad range of events at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival, a number of health and medicine-focussed sessions featured as some of the most impressive.

Pathologist Suzy Lishman and her team of scientists showed the audience how to investigate a death from a suspected heart attack. Lishman dissected a pig’s heart, which is similar in size to a human heart. In the event Heart Attack she showed how to conduct a post-mortem examination and to look at the heart for damage and signs indicative of heart disease. Different doctors and scientists are involved in the investigations, explained Lishman. Sugar levels and other chemicals in the blood are measured by biochemists and microscopic structural damage is measured by histopathologists. There are also many other tests. There is certainly more to a post-mortem examination than cutting up bodies.

Along the surgical theme, Saturday featured a number of live simulated operations, led by surgeon Roger Kneebone. We went along to the workshop Fancy Yourself as a Surgeon to see what it was all about. It was certainly not for the faint hearted! Commenting on how realistic it was, Festival Director, Mark Lythgoe said, “The test is, when you walk into a theatre and if someone keels over it feels pretty live, and there were definitely a few wobbly legs”.

But it’s not all about the gore. Because of its realistic feel, Fancy Yourself as a Surgeon was a hugely impressive event. We chatted to Max Campbell, Director of Health Cuts Ltd. Max creates prosthetics for film and TV as well as for medical purposes and worked on the TV medical drama Holby City for over 5 years. He told us how the prosthetics are so realistic because of a specific kind of silicone he uses, which can, given the right mix of gel, achieve similar tactile qualities of human skin and tissue.

“Why is it special?” asked Lythgoe, “Because six surgeons have come from a hospital in London and they’ve given up their day jobs. It does worry me a little bit about who’s doing the surgery”.

Sue Harris is our reporter in residence at the festival this year. Sue is a science writer and communicator based in London. She has a background in the healthcare industry and medical writing, although her experience spans a broad range of scientific subjects and she enjoys communicating science face-to-face. www.susanmharris.com

Photographs by Conor Cahill

We’ve tagged this post with Conor Cahill, operation, review, science, Sue Harris on Sunday 13 June 2010.