FIELD N OT E S
A healthcare leader’s perspective and the dynamics of medicine
The era of
open heart surgery
Constantine
Mavroudis, MD
Open heart surgery was introduced by
Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and associates in
1954 with a procedure called crosscirculation in which a child’s parent would
act as a pump-oxygenator to support the
child’s circulation during surgery. It was an
ingenious innovation that would lay
the groundwork for further clinical
application of the heart-lung machine
(cardiopulmonary bypass) in 1956 by
Dr. John Gibbon. Dr. John Kirklin then
improved upon those initial efforts.
An explosion of innovation emerged
thereafter, initiated by countless energetic,
driven, resourceful, and brilliant
cardiothoracic surgeons. New operations
were continually being devised, applied
to humans, and perfected. Medtronic
Corporation was literally born in Earl
Bakken’s garage when he developed the
first pacemaker; ultimately he founded
Medtronic, the medical manufacturer that
cardiovascular surgeons are familiar with
today. New machines, heart-valve devices,
synthetic grafts, and much more were
introduced to support this new specialty,
Cleveland Clinic
Ross Professor of Surgery
Chairman, Department of Pediatric
and Congenital Heart Surgery
Joint appointment in the
Department of Bioethics
“Congratulations to Scott &
White on the opening of the
new Advanced Heart Failure
Clinic and heart transplant
program. I hope readers enjoy
hearing some of my thoughts
about the evolution of cardiac
surgery, and the groundwork
that was laid to help patients
even today.”
—C. Mavroudis, MD
Editor’s Note: On occasion, we will invite a leader in healthcare to share his or
her reflections. Dr. Mavroudis’s contributions to the field of congenital and pediatric
cardiovascular surgery have had a positive impact upon many families during his
30-year career, including mine. He gave my 14-year-old nephew, born with a complex
congenital heart defect that led to heart failure, a second chance to live with a
successful heart transplant in 2007. We are so grateful.—P. Brennan
Dr. Lillehei and others develop
a technique to support a child’s
circulation during surgery
1950s
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THE CATALYST Winter 11 | www.sw.org
Dr. Gibbon and Dr. Kirklin
advance the application of
the heart-lung machine
1960s