Heart Attack

A 48-year-old Mantua woman was seriously injured yesterday morning on Interstate 295 when her car was struck head-on by a minivan driven by a man suffering a fatal heart attack. Edward Drozd, 57, of Lindenwold, was driving south about 7:10 a.m. when he suffered the heart attack and lost control of his minivan, which veered across the grass median and into northbound traffic, said Sgt. Al Della Fave, a state police spokesman. The minivan then struck Joanne Hambleton's Honda Civic near the Route 42 exit, Della Fave said.

Nearly 600,000 Americans died of heart attacks last year, according to the American Heart Association, but it has estimated that more than half the deaths could have been prevented if the victims had gotten hospital treatment sooner. With that in mind, two doctors from Memorial Hospital of Burlington County in Mount Holly have founded New Jersey's first chest-pain emergency center. The center, which opened Aug. 7 as part of Memorial Hospital's emergency department, is devoted exclusively to patients suffering signs of a possible heart attack.

The only things Henry Smith enjoyed more than talking were smiling and laughing. He loved every aspect of his life - from his family to his job and community, to his group of long-term buddies and his ever-strong connection to basketball. Smith, 28, who starred at West Philadelphia High and St. Joseph's University as a ferocious rebounder and tricky inside scorer, died early Wednesday morning of a heart attack at his West Philadelphia home. A spokesman in the medical examiner's office said yesterday the cause of death was an enlarged heart.

Gov. Casey checked into a hospital yesterday after a test showed that he probably suffered a "silent" heart attack sometime in the last month, but his doctor emphasized that he was in no imminent danger. Dr. David M. Leaman, director of cardiology at nearby Hershey Medical Center, said Casey, 55, "most likely" suffered a mild heart attack, without knowing it. He will undergo additional tests today. Leaman said comparison of an electrocardiogram on Aug. 31 - during the governor's routine physical examination - and one taken yesterday morning showed a "change we frequently see in a patient who's had a heart attack.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Robert Traylor, the former NBA and University of Michigan big man nicknamed "Tractor" because of his hulking frame, has died. He was 34. Described as a "gentle giant" with a generous smile, Traylor played 7 years in the NBA. He is perhaps most remembered, however, for his career at Michigan, where he was a standout for three seasons but became embroiled in a major scandal involving a booster. Police in San Juan said Traylor was found dead yesterday on the bedroom floor of his oceanfront apartment.

FORMER ATHLETE-turned-restaurant manager Stephanie Varela, 29, attributed her sweating, shortness of breath and slight chest pains to the stress of hard work and rushing around. Neither she nor the paramedics would realize she was having a heart attack. It happened on a Saturday evening last September, the Philadelphia resident recalled recently. "I was on the phone trying to calm down an irate guest, and the minute I hung up, it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I felt this stabbing pain in my shoulder that traveled down to my arm, elbow and finally to my fingers, which went numb.

One year after a serious heart attack threatened his future as a professional golfer, Lee Elder shot a 6-under-par 65 yesterday to win the $300,000 Senior PGA Tour event at the Links of Key Biscayne (Fla.). Elder's victory, his first since 1986, was by 5 shots over Al Geiberger, who closed with a course-record 63. Elder, 54, shot a 54-hole total of 11- under 202 to win the first-place check of $45,000. "I'm so elated because of what happened last year with the heart attack," said Elder, who now has eight Senior PGA Tour victories.

Former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda was in New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday after what the team called a "mild" heart attack. The 84-year-old Hall of Famer became ill Monday while in town to represent the club at the Major League Baseball draft. The Norristown native was resting comfortably after doctors inserted a stent to correct a blocked artery, the team said in a release. "The doctors confirmed I do bleed Dodger Blue," Lasorda chirped in the statement.

Bill Bendig, president of the St. Joseph High School Booster Club, died yesterday morning. Bendig spent Friday night in his trailer near St. Joseph's football field, guarding against possible vandalism. He was found dead of a suspected massive heart attack by his daughter Jamie yesterday morning, according to St. Joseph athletic director Bob McCluskey. "He wanted to make sure there was no trouble going on overnight because this was the first time we had played Hammonton at our field," McCluskey said.

A noninvasive scan that looks inside cardiac arteries can rapidly and reliably rule out the possibility of a heart attack among many emergency-room patients complaining of chest pain, according to a study led by University of Pennsylvania researchers. The findings provide the strongest evidence to date that "CT angiography" could relieve a diagnostic dilemma - how to efficiently distinguish patients who can safely be sent home from those who should stay in the hospital. About eight million annual ER visits are for chest pain.