Browse Items (230 total)

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…

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.

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.

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…

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…

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…

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,…

Mohamed Nazih Zuhdi (1925- ) was a medical fellow in surgery at the University of Minnesota from 1956-1957. In 1957 he became a member of the faculty of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He performed the first open heart surgery in…

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. 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…

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…

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.

F. John Lewis, Richard Varco, Mansur Taufic, and C. Walton Lillehei performed the world's first open heart surgery under direct vision in a dry operative field on September 2, 1952. The surgeons repaired an atrial septal defect on a 5-year-old girl…

The method of controlled cross circulation for open heart surgery was announced to the public at a University of Minnesota press conference on April 30, 1954. William T. Harris, Jr., director of the University News Service, organized the media…

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

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…

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…

F. John Lewis, Richard Varco, Mansur Taufic, and C. Walton Lillehei performed the world's first open heart surgery under direct vision in a dry operative field on September 2, 1952. The surgeons repaired an atrial septal defect on a 5-year-old girl…

Dr. Russell Brock (1903-1980) was a British heart surgeon and a pioneer in cardiovascular surgery who performed one of the first extracardiac operations to alleviate pulmonary stenosis in 1948.

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…

While conducting experimental research on blood conduction for open heart surgery in 1953, C. Walton Lillehei collaborated with Sigmamotor, Inc. of Middleport, New York to design a pump sufficient to pump blood through plastic tubing during open…

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 Variety Club of the Northwest, a charitable organization comprised of members of the entertainment industry, presented University President James L. Morrill with a $250,000 check, along with a pledge of $25,000 in annual support to build and…

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…

The discovery of methods for open heart surgery would not have been possible without first performing research with canines in the laboratory.

C. Walton Lillehei second from left.

[Caption]

Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and his team performing open-heart surgery while using the bubble oxygenator invented by Richard A. DeWall

Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and his team performing open-heart surgery while using the Lillehei-DeWall "bubble" oxygenator. Photo taken from observation dome directly over the operating theater. Dr. L., in center bent over patient, is wearing a…

Cross circulation surgery - Dr. C. W. Lillehei (right center) performing open heart surgery with large operating team
[Caption]

The individuals in the enclosed photograph are, from left to right, Dr. Andre Thevenet, Dr. Young Kyoon Lee (Korean), Dr. N. Gopinath (Indian), Dr. George Schimert (individual in back), Dr. Andre McClish (short fellow), and Dr. Jan Nowicki. On the…

Dr. C. Walton Lillehei seated at a desk and holding a lantern slide.

The exhibit, "Methods for Direct Vision Intracardiac Surgery," was displayed at the American Medical Association Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1955. William M. Holmes of the University of Minnesota Department of Medical Illustration…

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…

Dear Mrs. Scott,

The photograph was probably taken during the height of Dr. Lewis' and my interest in the development of low temperature techniques for working under the heart (circa 1952-3).

The apparatus is a cooling machine (under my hands)…

Drs using Heart Lung Machine at Mayo

[Caption]

The exhibit, "Methods for Direct Vision Intracardiac Surgery," was displayed at the American Medical Association Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1955. William M. Holmes of the University of Minnesota Department of Medical Illustration…

F. John Lewis (1916-1993) was an Instructor (1950), Assistant Professor (1951), Clinical Associate Professor (1952-1953), and Associate Professor of surgery (1954-1956) at the University of Minnesota. He went on to become the first full-time member…

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,…

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…

Richard L. Varco, associate professor of surgery, requested funding from the Graduate School to support his research on coronary insufficiency.

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…

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.

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

The azygos vein is a blood vessel that carries a small amount of deoxygenated blood from the body into the right side of the heart. The vein acts as an alternative path for blood flow when the main blood vessel carriers, the superior and inferior…

In 1955, surgeons at the University of Minnesota operated on 5 patients for open heart surgery using the method of continuous arterial perfusion.

Research showed that when deoxygenated (venous blood) was warmed at 45 degrees Celcius for 15…

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

The exhibit, "Methods for Direct Vision Intracardiac Surgery," was displayed at the American Medical Association Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1955. William M. Holmes of the University of Minnesota Department of Medical Illustration…

The exhibit, "Methods for Direct Vision Intracardiac Surgery," was displayed at the American Medical Association Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1955. William M. Holmes of the University of Minnesota Department of Medical Illustration…

The exhibit, "Methods for Direct Vision Intracardiac Surgery," was displayed at the American Medical Association Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1955. William M. Holmes of the University of Minnesota Department of Medical Illustration…

The exhibit, "Methods for Direct Vision Intracardiac Surgery," was displayed at the American Medical Association Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1955. William M. Holmes of the University of Minnesota Department of Medical Illustration…

Electrical engineer Robert Kaster, (U of M 1951) collaborated with C. Walton Lillehei to invent a prosthetic heart valve named the Lillehei-Kaster Pivoting Disc Valve. The device was first successfully implanted in 1967. The valves were produced…

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.

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…

Heart surgery diagram of blood bypass and pump

[Caption]

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…

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

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…

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.

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.

At the request of the Chair of the Department of Surgery, Owen Wangensteen, William T. Harris, Jr. of the University News Service organized a press conference at the auditorium of the Variety Heart Club Hospital on Friday, April 30, 1954 to report…

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. Clarence Dennis (1909-2005), graduate of the University of Minnesota (M.S. 1938, Ph.D. 1940), was a Teaching Fellow (1936-1937) and Research Assistant (1937-1938) in the Department of Surgery, Instructor in the Department of Physiology…

Dr. Gilbert S. Campbell, along with medical fellow Norman Crisp, developed the method of biological oxygenation using a dog lung for cardiopulmonary by-pass in 1955. The method was used on 15 patients.

Ivan D. Baronofsky was a Medical Intern (1943), Medical Fellow and Research Assistant (1944-1947), Instructor (1948), Assistant Professor (1949), and Associate Professor of Surgery (1950-1956) at the University of Minnesota. He obtained a Doctor of…