South Pole doctor sent home after heart operation

Shemenski suffered pancreatitis six months into a planned year-long stay at the South Pole

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- The physician who was rescued from the South Pole last month so that he could be treated for a potentially life-threatening gallbladder problems was released Friday from the hospital after undergoing treatment on his heart instead.

Dr. Ronald Shemenski, 59, was picked up April 26 in a daring rescue from the South Pole, six months into a planned year-long stay, after he was diagnosed with pancreatitis, a potentially fatal condition, that required surgery on his gallbladder.

But a routine electrocardiogram -- done on all patients older than 40 before surgery -- uncovered a change in his heart rhythm and the possibility he might have suffered a heart attack, said Dr. Harvey Schuchman, a cardiologist at the hospital.

A stress test also proved abnormal.

VIDEO CNN's Gary Tuchman reports on the rescue of the ill doctor from the South Pole (April 26) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     CHAT TRANSCRIPT Fmr. South Pole Physician Dr. Robert Thompson on his rescue from the South Pole     RESOURCES Antarctica rescue map

An angiogram Thursday showed one artery in Shemenski's heart was blocked and the other partially blocked, a spokeswoman said.

In a procedure that took about an hour, both arteries were opened using balloon angioplasty. Coronary stents -- wire mesh tubes -- were inserted to keep the vessels open.

"I was surprised by all this," Shemenski said, according to the hospital. "I'm glad it was found and taken care of before any further problems developed."

The hospital said Shemenski will travel to his home in Ohio and then probably will return to the hospital in Denver in four to six weeks for the surgery on his gall bladder.

The delay is necessary because Shemenski is taking blood thinners to discourage the formation of clots after Thursday's procedure, and surgery is typically not performed on someone taking the medication.

Shemenski went to the Denver hospital because its doctors made the original diagnosis of pancreatitis, using a satellite telemetry system it has set up to keep tabs on the health of workers at the South Pole research facility.

Raytheon Polar Services, Shemenski's employer, is based in Denver.

Dr. Gerald Katz, the physician adviser for the U.S. Antarctic Program, said the treatment did not necessarily exclude Shemenski from returning to the South Pole. "The guidelines state that anyone deployed to the South Pole needs to be disease-free for 12 months," he said.

Shemenski's evacuation was the first rescue ever attempted during the polar winter. He was taken in a plane mounted on skis that landed and took off in the continent's frigid darkness, where temperatures were about 82 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-28 Celsius) with a wind chill of minus 122 F (-50 C).

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April 25, 2001
Second Antarctic rescue mission leaves for South Pole
April 24, 2001
Bad weather delays risky flight to South Pole
April 22, 2001
South Pole rescue planned for sick doctor
April 13, 2001
Tough air rescue launched for ailing Arctic doctor
October 7, 1999

Antarctica's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
National Science Foundation
Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica
The New South Polar Times

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