Dr. Dufek has been avidly studying English since his recovery from the operation. He intends to apply to the ministry for permission to visit the United States next February or March. He wants to visit you, Dr. Chardack, and the factory where the pacemakers are manufactured. Presumably he hopes by then to have a clearer picture of what the annual need for pacemakers in Czechoslovakia will be, and he said that he would like to be able to arrange for the C.S.S.R. to import them from the U.S.

You may not have realized that many of the Czech doctors who witnessed the operation were critical afterwards of the length of time it took, and said that their technique would have enabled them to complete the operation in one-third of the time. One doctor who had once operated in the U.S.S.R. (Dr. Hejhal) tried to apologize for you by saying that it just takes longer to operate under circumstances to which one is not accustomed, i.e., a different country, language, operating room, assistants, instruments, etc.

Perhaps what he said was partly correct, but it appears that the critics now seem to have changed their minds as a result of the amazingly swift recovery of Dr. Dufek. Had the local rapid technique of operating been used, I am told, he would have been hospitalized for four weeks because of hematomas in his wounds.

As I mentioned, Jiri [interpreter George Sykora's nickname] and I had lunch with the Doctor and Mrs. Dufkova at the Alcron on July 20, just two weeks after his operation and just before he left for his home in Pardubice. When we saw him again on the 29th, he had been visited both in the hospital and at home by many Czech doctors and he has been giving them all a sales pitch on the superiority of your "slow" operational technique. He told me that he intends to give a talk on the subject at the International Seminar on Cardiovascular Surgery this fall and that he will exhibit himself as proof of the superiority of this technique in chest operations.

I concur in the belief of Dr. Dufek and Jiri that the former was fortunate that such an excellent surgeon was chosen to operate on him. I believe that you had an excellent patient as well.

Next in the "Dufek File" are several newspaper clippings with headlines of this sort: "U.S. Surgeon Saves Life of Czech Doctor" and "American Science Behind the Iron Curtain" and "VA's Heart Pacemaker Saves Doctor's Life in U.S.S.R." The flurry of publicity soon died down, and I was happy to receive several letters from Dr. Dufek himself:

Pardubice, August 6, 1962
Dear Doctor: Many sincere greetings both to you and to your wife from me, as well as from my wife and Daniela. I feel very well. My pulse is 62 and I have no dizziness any more. The pacemaker works perfectly, and thus I am glad of the successful operation. This operation having provoked a strong widespread interest, I find myself constantly interviewed by somebody and came to the conclusion that the best solution will be to retire with my wife to a spa.

Mr. Ward procured for me the article in the JAMA [Journal of the American Medical Association]. He is very kind to me and does his best to help in anything. He and Mr. Sykora came to see us in Pardubice on Sunday the 22nd and again on the 29th, when we celebrated Daniela's 13th birthday. We all remembered you and were sorry for your being absent from here.

You are cordially greeted by the center doctors. They were very fond of you even though you passed only a few days in Prague. Both you and Dr. Chardack will get invitations from the Ministry of Health to the International Symposium of Cardiovascular Surgery taking place in Prague in November to come.

Please let me know whether there are any doctors among the pacemaker-implanted people and how many. I am interested especially in internists and cardiologists and how many cases were operated by you and by Dr. Chardack.

I am closing now and dare wishing you

"You may not have realized that many of the Czech doctors who witnessed the operation were critical afterwards of the length of time it took," wrote the vice consul to Takaro, "and said that their technique would have enabled them to complete the operation in one-third of the time."

will not omit sending me the promised photographs of yours and of your family. I am like a reborn man.

Pardubice, November 25, 1962
I am sending you best regards from myself and the whole family. As about myself I am all right. Dr. Chardack has written to me asking my experience with a slightly subnormal rate of action of the pacemaker. I replied a fortnight ago in the sense that I agree with his opinion on those 60 pulses being quite sufficient.

With Christmas approaching, receive please our sincere wishes to pass it in