Jan 9, 2009 | 25 Every year, about half a million Americans
undergo open-heart surgery. Roughly 60 percent of them
experience some degree of mental decline after the surgery, a
phenomenon that surgeons call "pumphead." A new study in this
month's Annals of Thoracic Surgery sheds light on possible
causes of the mysterious condition, which in some patients is
temporary but in others may last a lifetime. "It has been well-
documented that there is an issue of cognitive decline in the
period of time [a few months] immediately after surgery," says
lead study author James Slater, a cardiothoracic surgeon at
Atlantic Health System in Morristown, N.J. Slater says the
amount of cognitive decline varies; some patients have a tough
time concentrating, others have trouble with memory and
learning. Slater recalls, for instance, a onetime crossword whiz
who, post-surgery, could no longer do The New York Times Sunday
crossword puzzle. (Read about Bruce Stutz's experience with
"pumphead" in the June 2003 issue of Scientific A