James Graham, a registered radiological technologist at East Cooper Regional Medical Center, recently won first place for his entry in the Scientific Exhibit at the South Carolina Society of Radiological Technologists in Greenville, SC.

The exhibits were judged on content, presentation and educational benefit.  His entry, one of seven exhibits, was entitled “A Look at Alcohol Septal Ablation of the Heart”.   His picture-exhibit demonstrated that in some cases, a person with an enlarged septum of the heart, which is the muscle that divides the heart in half, might be suffering from the decreased ability of the heart to pump blood properly.  By injecting a specialized type of alcohol into the septal artery, the alcohol cuts off the blood supply to the septum, causing the septum to decrease in size and thereby allowing the rest of the heart muscle to pump efficiently.  Amazingly, this simple procedure is sometimes an alternative to a heart transplant.

James was awarded a traveling trophy, which he will keep for one year.  This is James’ second time winning the first place trophy.  James has been a radiological technologist for 30 years.