An innovative leader in the treatment of heart disease, surgeon Michael DeBakey helped inaugurate a new era in cardiovascular surgery. The pump he designed for use in blood transfusions proved critical to the development of heart-lung machines that made open-heart surgery possible. DeBakey also pioneered the use of Dacron fabric for vascular grafts and tubing. In the 1960s he led efforts to develop a mechanical pump—known as a ventricular assist device—to support patients with failing heart function. Among the first to perform coronary bypasses, DeBakey made history in 1968 when he and his team transplanted four organs from a single donor to four different recipients. --NPG
The National Library of Medicine has this portrait of DeBakey by Aaron Shikler commissioned for for the opening of the Michael E. DeBakey Center for Biomedical Education and Research at Baylor College of Medicine, October 1980.
No comments:
Post a Comment