"This book is the first complete history of the development of heart surgery. Its story ranges from the observations of the ancient Greeks through early efforts to repair heart wounds in the nineteenth century to the extraordinary advances of the present day. Noted heart surgeon Harris B. Shumacker has scoured the vast literature on heart surgery in many languages and has succeeded in untangling the complex strands of a fascinating story. An active and respected participant in the last half-century of this history, Shumacker brings to his narrative an experts insights and a wealth of first-hand experience." "As a backdrop for what is to come, Shumacker surveys the prehistory of modern heart surgery, but his story begins in earnest in the 1920s and 1930s, when the first attempts were made to operate on the heart and adjacent vessels to correct congenital malformations. He describes the early operations on the great vessels and surface of the heart; intracardiac manipulations upon the beating, functioning, and unsupported heart; and operations carried out within the opened heart." "With the meticulous care of a surgeon, Shumacker retraces the incremental growth in our knowledge of the human heart and its repair with clear discussions of each innovative procedure, both the successes and the failures. He pays special attention to clarifying the individual contributions of the many doctors and researchers throughout the world who have played a role in this still-developing story." "Shumacker concludes with the revolutionary developments of contemporary heart surgery: the heart-lung machine, deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest, cardiac support devices, heart transplants, and the artificial heart. Here is a comprehensive history and an important resource for the medical professional and the medical historian." --Book Jacket.

Heart operations today are quite common and relatively low-risk, but in the beginning it was just the opposite. Cardiac operations were reserved for desperately ill patients. The author documents this dramatic transition with profiles of 38 surgeons who were active between 1940 and 1985. The profiles are edited transcripts of interviews videotaped between 1996 and 2004. They tell of the development of new techniques such as the "blue baby operation," the first heart-lung machine, the first artificial heart valve, and the first coronary bypass operation. They also tell the unusual life stories of the surgeons and allude to professional and institutional rivalries. A particularly valuable part of the book is the author's brief history of cardiac surgery, designed to orient the reader for reading the profiles that follow.

Few of the great stories of medicine are as palpably dramatic as the invention of open-heart surgery, yet, until now, no journalist has ever brought all of the thrilling specifics of this triumph to life. This is the story of the surgeon many call the father of open-heart surgery, Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, who, along with colleagues at University Hospital in Minneapolis and a small band of pioneers elsewhere, accomplished what many experts considered to be an impossible feat: He opened the heart, repaired fatal defects, and made the miraculous routine. Acclaimed author G. Wayne Miller draws on archival research and exclusive interviews with Lillehei and legendary pioneers such as Michael DeBakey and Christiaan Barnard, taking readers into the lives of these doctors and their patients as they progress toward their landmark achievement. In the tradition of works by Richard Rhodes and Tracy Kidder, King of Hearts tells the story of an important and gripping piece of forgotten science history.

This text, published in the profession's centenary year, traces the history of cardiac surgery from ancient times to the present, detailing clinical developments with facsimilies of the original articles, consent forms from the first heart transplant, newspaper articles, and correspondence. The text follows a set pattern, describing the historical background to each new procedure, facsimilies of the original articles, bibliography of the main clinicians, and a commentary putting each development into its historical context.

Myocardial protection is regarded as one of the most important, yet also most controversial aspects of cardiac surgery. There has been considerable improvement in myocardial protection strategies over recent years, utilising a variety of new approaches to treat cardiac diseases, and this text is intended to embrace the state of the art in this field. The book summarises the state of knowledge on all aspects of myocardial protection, including the latest in the treatment of cardiac diseases, robotics, pediatric surgery and the treatment of cardiac failure. Robotic surgery, valvular surgery, pediatric surgery and coronary surgery are all covered by renowned experts, producing a comprehensive, forward-looking view of the field of myocardial protection. This book should function to update physicians and surgeons interested in the field of cardiac surgery on the current state of knowledge on myocardial protection.

T e four heart valves reside in the center of the heart. T is indicates their crucial role in cardiac performance. Fau- less function of the valves is a prerequisite for unidir- tional forward movement of the blood, and such function is necessary to support the ef orts of the cardiac atria and ventricles. Healthy heart valves function gracefully and of er mechanical durability. Bioengineers have to marvel at the biomechanical evolution of these perfectly placed valves. Heart valves can be involved in pathological processes, however, and only then do we realize just how indispensable they really are. At one time, serious valve disorders used to be a matter of life and death for patients. Only in recent decades have surgeons been able to reverse the ominous course of heart valve disease and of er patients a quality of life and life span comparable to that of healthy persons. T e story of this ef ort began approximately 100 years ago, and today heart valve surgery is a substantial subspecialty of cardiac surgery, with accumulated experience in indications, procedures, risks, and outcomes. T e aim of this book is to present a richly illustrated compendium of the present knowledge related to heart valve surgery, based on the clinical expertise of the authors as well as the newest treatment modalities. T e authors thank Dr. Alireeza Matloobi from the Mayo Clinic for his help in preparating the book.