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Philadelphia was the center of the medical universe.
On May 6, 1953, Dr. John Gibbon performed the 1st successful cardiac operation in the world using an artificial heart-lung bypass machine. The procedure was performed at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, and the patient was a young 18-year old girl that had an atrial septal defect (hole in the heart) that needed to be closed. In order to close the hole, Dr. Gibbon had to stop the girl's heart from beating, and rely on the machine to provide circulation and oxygen delivery (aka heart/lung bypass surgery). Interestingly, he was denied approval to conduct this surgery at other nearby hospitals, so he applied for privileges at TJU.
Although the concept and design of the machine was attributed to Dr. Gibbon, the machine was manufactured by IBM. The pump is still displayed at TJU.
Today over 450,000 open heart procedures are performed annually using the Heart-Lung machine. With improvements to technology and design, the average mortality rate for coronary artery bypass surgery is below 2%, thanks largely to Dr. Gibbon's vision.
On May 6, 1953, Dr. John Gibbon performed the 1st successful cardiac operation in the world using an artificial heart-lung bypass machine. The procedure was performed at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, and the patient was a young 18-year old girl that had an atrial septal defect (hole in the heart) that needed to be closed. In order to close the hole, Dr. Gibbon had to stop the girl's heart from beating, and rely on the machine to provide circulation and oxygen delivery (aka heart/lung bypass surgery). Interestingly, he was denied approval to conduct this surgery at other nearby hospitals, so he applied for privileges at TJU.
Although the concept and design of the machine was attributed to Dr. Gibbon, the machine was manufactured by IBM. The pump is still displayed at TJU.
Today over 450,000 open heart procedures are performed annually using the Heart-Lung machine. With improvements to technology and design, the average mortality rate for coronary artery bypass surgery is below 2%, thanks largely to Dr. Gibbon's vision.
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