Browse Items (230 total)

Drs. C. Walton Lillehei, Morley Cohen, and Herbert Warden, demonstrate the Sigmamotor pump and flow of blood through tubing during a controlled cross circulation open heart surgery. The presentation was given during a press conference on April 30,…

An interventricular, or ventricular septal defect (VSD), is a congenital heart defect. VSD is a hole in the ventricular septum, or wall, that divides the lower chambers--the left and right ventricle--of the heart. The hole allows the exchange of…

A news release produced by the University of Minnesota News Service that announced the development of the controlled cross circulation method for open heart surgery.

William T. Harris, Jr. , director of the University News Service, organized a press conference at the University on April 30, 1954 to announce the development of controlled cross circulation method for open heart surgery and the success of operations…

Leonard Engel published "The Operation: A minute-by-minute account of a heart operation--and the story of medicine and surgery that led up to it," in 1958. The book describes the controlled cross circulation method used by Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and…

In October of 1944 at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, Clarence Crafoord performed the first successful repair of coarctation of the aorta—a narrowing of the aorta, the major blood vessel that delivers oxygenated blood to the rest of…

Professor of Surgery John R. Paine reported the progress of the cardiac research made possible by an $800 grant from the Graduate School

Richard L. Varco, associate professor of surgery, applied to the Graduate School for funding for his research into alternative surgical treatments for tetralogy of Falot and other heart defects.

F. John Lewis requested funding from the Graduate School to support his research on the use of body cooling (induced hypothermia) for open heart surgery. F. John Lewis lead the first surgical team to perform a successful open heart surgery in a…

F. John Lewis requested funding from the Graduate School to support his research on the use of body cooling (induced hypothermia) for open heart surgery. F. John Lewis lead the first surgical team to perform a successful open heart surgery in a dry…

F. John Lewis requested funding from the Graduate School to support his research on the use of body cooling (induced hypothermia) for open heart surgery. F. John Lewis lead the first surgical team to perform a successful open heart surgery in a dry…

In 1938, at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, Robert Gross performed the first successful repair of a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) - a congenital condition in which an important blood vessel in the heart fails to close after birth…

Clarence Dennis, professor of surgery, applied for funding from the U.S. Public Health Service to support his research on the development of a pump-oxygenator, or heart and lung machine, to take over the circulation of a patient and allow for open…

From 1947-1951 Clarence Dennis, professor of surgery, received funding from the Graduate School, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Public Health Service to support his research in the development of a heart and lung machine for open heart…

From 1947-1951 Clarence Dennis, professor of surgery, received funding from the Graduate School, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Public Health Service to support his research in the development of a heart and lung machine for open heart…

From 1947-1951 Clarence Dennis, professor of surgery, received funding from the Graduate School, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Public Health Service to support his research in the development of a heart and lung machine for open heart…

Clarence Dennis, professor of surgery, applied for funding from the U.S. Public Health Service to continue his research in the development of a heart-lung machine for use in open heart surgery. This application reports Dennis' progress since he…

The Minnesota Heart Association was incorporated in 1947. The 1951-1952 edition of "The Gopher Heart" was the first published annual report of the organization. The report includes a description of the activities of the organization, including…

The Minnesota Heart Association was incorporated in 1947. This report includes a description the activities of the organization, including fundraising and outreach efforts, and a list of grants issued for heart research.

In 1954, professor of surgery Richard Varco collaborated with William Connell, News Representative in University Relations, to produce a series of open heart surgery teaching films. These notes are for a film titled, "Surgical Correction of…

This document was used as background information to create a teaching film on using the method of induced hypothermia to close an atrial septal defect in the open heart. In 1954, professor of surgery Richard Varco collaborated with William…

These notes were sent to Charles Christensen, NBC Director, from NBC producer Louis Hazam on May 17, 1954. The notes document planning for the production of a film that featured the controlled cross circulation method for open heart surgery. The…

Alfred Blalock of The Johns Hopkins Hospital was a well known cardiac surgeon who performed the first procedure to treat the congenital heart defect Tetralogy of Fallot (1944). Owen Wangensteen, chief of the Department of Surgery at the University…

Dr. James Watt, Director of the National Heart Institute Department of Health, Education and Welfare, wrote to the Department of Surgery to request a summary of the cross circulation method for open heart surgery that would be, "understandable to the…

Alfred Blalock of The Johns Hopkins Hospital was a well known cardiac surgeon who performed the first procedure to treat the congenital heart defect Tetralogy of Fallot in 1944. Following the announcement of the success of the controlled cross…

Owen H. Wangensteen, chief of the Department of Surgery, wrote to professor of surgery Richard L. Varco advising caution in the selection of patients for open heart surgery that used new methods of oxygenation that were being developed in the…

The Variety Club Heart Hospital, a hospital built specifically for the care and treatment of persons afflicted with heart disease, admitted the first patients on March 20, 1951. A Dedication Dinner was held in the main ballroom of Coffman Memorial…

The Variety Club Heart Hospital, a hospital built specifically for the care and treatment of persons afflicted with heart disease, admitted the first patients on March 20, 1951. A Dedication Dinner was held in the main ballroom of Coffman Memorial…

This news release reported the progress of the controlled cross circulation surgeries performed at the University, success of those surgeries, and outlined the individuals involved.

In a memorandum sent to all division and department heads on February 3, 1953, Robert B. Howard, Director of Post-Graduate Studies in the Medical School, requested a report "about the various research projects currently being carried out in the…

In a memorandum sent to all division and department heads on February 3, 1953, Robert B. Howard, Director of Post-Graduate Studies in the Medical School, requested a report "about the various research projects currently being carried out in the…

In a memorandum sent to all division and department heads on February 3, 1953, Robert B. Howard, Director of Post-Graduate Studies in the Medical School, requested a report "about the various research projects currently being carried out in the…

In a memorandum sent to all division and department heads on February 3, 1953, Robert B. Howard, Director of Post-Graduate Studies in the Medical School, requested a report "about the various research projects currently being carried out in the…

Dr. Christaan Barnard of the Department of Surgery at the University of Capetown in South Africa came to the University of Minnesota as a surgical resident in January of 1956. From 1956-1958 he was trained on the pump oxygenator system for open…

Dr. Christaan Barnard of the Department of Surgery at the University of Capetown in South Africa came to the University of Minnesota as a surgical resident in January of 1956. From 1956-1958 he was trained on the pump oxygenator system for open heart…

Dr. Christaan Barnard of the Department of Surgery at the University of Capetown in South Africa came to the University of Minnesota as a surgical resident in January of 1956. From 1956-1958 he was trained on the pump oxygenator system for open heart…

Dr. Christaan Barnard of the Department of Surgery at the University of Capetown in South Africa came to the University of Minnesota as a surgical resident in January of 1956. From 1956-1958 he was trained on the pump oxygenator system for open heart…

Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first successful heart transplant in December of 1967. Barnard completed a residency from 1956-1958 under Owen Wangensteen, chief of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Hospitals.

The University of Minnesota Department of Surgery purchased the refrigeration blankets and other apparatus used in the procedure to induce hypothermia for open heart surgery from the Therm-O-Rite Products Corporation of Buffalo, New York.

Following a power outage in Minneapolis on October 31, 1957, the need for a portable battery-operated pacemaker for patients with post-operative heart block became imperative. To treat heart block - a condition in which sutures placed within the…

In 1952, engineer Alan Belgard and cardiologist Paul Zoll designed an external defibrillator and pacemaker which was sold commercially by the Electrodyne Company of Norwood, Massachusetts. The unit was comprised of an electrocardiograph to monitor…

Following the reports of the first successful controlled cross circulation operation in 1954, surgeons from all over the world visited the University of Minnesota to observe the procedure performed by Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and his surgical…

J. Richard R. Bobb, Chief of Staff at Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach, California wrote to C. Walton Lillehei regarding the costs associated with open heart surgery.

C. Walton Lillehei wrote to J. Richard R. Bobb, Chief of Staff of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach, California in response to Bobb's letter of October 14, 1966 in which he inquired about the expense of open heart surgery.

F. John Lewis lead the first surgical team to perform a successful open heart surgery in a dry field under direct vision using hypothermia. The operation was performed on September 2, 1952 at the University of Minnesota.

C. Walton Lillehei responded to a letter A.F. Crumley, Superintendent of the San Diego County General Hospital, sent to him regarding the use of hypothermia for open heart surgery and the purchase of a hypothermia blanket and respirator. In this…

The battery-operated transistorized pacemaker for the treatment of heart block was developed in the winter of 1957-1958 by Earl Bakken of Medtronic, Inc.

A Civil Service Personnel Requisition was the official employment paperwork for positions classed as Civil Service at the University of Minnesota. This requisition is for the position of a Junior Scientist to operate the Chemistry section of the…

Clarence Dennis was a professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota until 1951 when he accepted the position of the head of the Department of Surgery at the State University of New York Medical Center at New York City. Dennis began work on a…

Antifoam A, a substance made by the Dow Corning Corporation, was used in the operation of the DeWall Bubble Oxygenator. The substance, when coated along the walls of the debubbling chamber of the oxygenator unit, helped to dissipate bubbles…

Leonard Engel wrote The Operation, "A minute-by-minute account of a heart operation--and the story of medicine and surgery that led up to it." The book, which profiles the surgical procedures devised by C. Walton Lillehei and others at the University…

Herbert E. Warden (1920-2002), was a Medical Fellow and Clinical Instructor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota from 1951-1960.

Warden, along with Morley Cohen, C. Walton Lillehei, and Richard Varco formed the first surgical team to…

A blank form that was used to record the details of open heart surgery performed using the DeWall Bubble Oxygenator.

The abbreviations IVC and SVC refer to the inferior and superior venae cavae, two large veins that return deoxygenated blood from…

This correspondence describes the administrative details of providing Medtronic pacemakers to patients at the University Hospitals.

Earl Bakken collaborated with C. Walton Lillehei in 1957 to create a battery-operated transistorized pacemaker for use in the treatment of heart block.

Controlled cross circulation was a method of open heart surgery devised by C. Walton Lillehei, Herbert Warden, and Morley Cohen in the research laboratories of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. During the operation, a donor…

Herbert E. Warden (1920-2002), was a Medical Fellow and Clinical Instructor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota from 1951-1960. Warden, along with Morley Cohen, C. Walton Lillehei, and Richard Varco formed the first surgical team to perform a…

Controlled cross circulation was a method of open heart surgery devised by C. Walton Lillehei, Herbert Warden, and Morley Cohen in the research laboratories of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. During the operation, a donor…

Controlled cross circulation was a method of open heart surgery devised by C. Walton Lillehei, Herbert Warden, and Morley Cohen in the research laboratories of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. During the operation, a donor…

A form used to track the maintenance of the Sigmamotor pump used to pump blood during open heart surgery.

Controlled cross circulation was a method of open heart surgery devised by C. Walton Lillehei, Herbert Warden, and Morley Cohen in the research laboratories of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. During the operation, a donor…

The Sigmamotor pump was used during open heart surgery to pump blood through polyvinyl tubing from a patient to a donor or artificial oxygenator while the heart was being operated on.

The Sigmamotor pump was used during open heart surgery to pump blood through polyvinyl tubing from a patient to a donor or artificial oxygenator while the heart was being operated on.

On January 30, 1957, the surgical team of C. Walton Lillehei, William Weirich, and Vincent Gott successfully implanted a myocardial electrode on a patient's heart tissue, which was connected by wire to a Grass Physiological Stimulator, that provided…

This pamphlet was produced by the Minnesota Heart Association (established 1947) to promote awareness of heart disease.

Following the public announcement of the method of controlled cross circulation for open heart surgery on April 30, 1954, Cosmopolitan magazine wrote a feature article that featured Pamela Schmidt, the cured patient introduced at the press…

Following the public announcement of the method of controlled cross circulation for open heart surgery on April 30, 1954, Cosmopolitan magazine wrote a feature article that featured Pamela Schmidt, the cured patient introduced at the press…

Dr. Gilbert Campbell and Norman Crisp developed a method of circulation by-pass through the use of an excised dog lung which acted as blood oxygenator during open heart surgery. The "biological oxygenator," was used in 15 clinical operations.

The disposable sheet oxygenator, a modification of the DeWall Bubble Oxygenator, was manufactured commercially by Baxtor Laboratories.

In the summer of 1941, 10 seminars were held on the subject of the heart and circulation by the Department of Surgery. The seminars were held at 4:00 p.m. in Room 318 of Millard Hall.

In 1955, C. Walton Lillehei began to administer a new drug named Isuprel to treat patients that developed heart block following an open heart surgery.

In 1955, C. Walton Lillehei began to administer a new drug named Isuprel to treat patients that developed heart block following an open heart surgery.

Paul Zoll of Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, developed external cardiac pacing.

Paul Zoll of Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, developed external cardiac pacing.

Surgeons from around the world visited the University Hospitals to receive training in the innovations for open heart surgery established by the surgeons at the University of Minnesota.

Surgeons from around the world visited the University Hospitals to receive training in the innovations for open heart surgery established by the surgeons at the University of Minnesota.

Surgeons from around the world visited the University Hospitals to receive training in the innovations for open heart surgery established by the surgeons at the University of Minnesota.

The Cardiovascular Training Program was established at the University of Minnesota with a grant by the National Institutes of Health in July of 1956. The program funded surgical fellowships for trainees to learn clinical intracardiac procedures…

After the method of controlled cross circulation was made public on April 30, 1954, requests came in from members of the medical community to come to Minnesota to observe the method during an operation. The Department of Surgery regularly received…

Morse J Shapiro (1893-1968) received a bachelor of science (1915) and a doctor of medicine (1917) from the University of Minnesota. Following his service in the army from 1917-1919, Shapiro became a public school physician in Minneapolis.
In 1922,…