Correspondence, Owen H. Wangensteen to Richard L. Varco advising caution in selecting patients for open heart surgery

Correspondence, Owen H. Wangensteen to Richard L. Varco advising caution in selecting patients for open heart surgery

Open Heart Surgery

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 research laboratory. Wangensteen's advice was specifically related to a method devised by graduate student Gilbert Campbell which used a biological oxygenator in the form of a dog's lung to oxygenate a patient's blood during an open heart surgery. The first use of a dog's lung as a biological oxygenator at the University of Minnesota was in 1955. By the spring of 1955, Richard DeWall had developed the DeWall bubble oxygenator, which replaced dog lung oxygenation and controlled cross circulation as the primary method to perform open heart surgery. A dog's lung was used in 14 clinical operations.

Owen H. Wangensteen

"Lillehei, Clarence Walton, 1953-1957," Box 18, Folder 576, Department of Surgery records, uarc1007, University of Minnesota Archives

University of Minnesota

4-Mar-55

University of Minnesota

Use of this image is governed by U.S. and international copyright laws. Image is property of the University of Minnesota. Please contact the University of Minnesota Archives for permission to publish this image. http://special.lib.umn.edu/uarch

Document

eng

oh0081

Open Heart Surgery

Paper