History of cardiology

Retrospectives of the many developments of cardiology on my years of practice.

Dr Ludwid Rehn is consider by some as the father of cardiac surgery.

His plan was to access the mitral valve through a small incision at the bottom of the left atrium and then create an incision in one of the diseased leaflets of the mitral valve.

On June 6, 1944 marked history as “D-Day”, but also because it is the day Harken successfully removed a metallic fragment from a right ventricle.

Considered a pioneer of heart surgery by some and father of open-heart surgery by others, Dr Bailey had a fulfilled career.

This young surgeon followed the footsteps of doctors Harken and Bailey when he successfully completed the mitral valve operation as described by his mentors.

Dr. Mustard received his medical diploma for the University of Toronto in 1937.His medical profession began as a surgeon at the Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 1947. He was then known as an innovative surgeon.

Dr Bigelow affirmed that the cold reduces drastically the metabolism of these animals and the oxygen needed and consumed by the vital organs is minimal during this period.

Doctor F. John Lewis is the first surgeon to successfully complete an open-heart surgery by closing an atrial septal defect in a young 5-year old patient, Jacqueline Jones.

Stopping hypothermic circulation leaves the surgeons only a few minutes to perform the operation. This short time, however, does not allow for more complex surgeries. Dr. Lillehei will form a group to try to solve this problem.

After the death of a patient, Dr Gibbon had an idea that made heart surgery what it is today

Cardiac catheterization is an examination that the doctor prescribes to verify the work done by the heart and to measure different pressures in the heart and lungs. A short stay at the hospital is expected for this examination.

During the era where developments in cardiac surgeries in children with congenital abnormalities, such as a hole between the two ventricles, sudden death by blockage in electrical conduction in the heart is one of the causes of catastrophic deaths.

The pressure inside the catheter generated by the injector gave it a new orientation and injected the dye directly into the right coronary. Both doctors were convinced that death was imminent. They expected to see this 47-year-old patient die from ventricular fibrillation.

Treating heart failures caused big challenges before the cardiac surgery era. At that time, the therapeutic arsenal was limited and counted on relieving pulmonary congestion using diuretics and removal of blood.

The most terrifying of operative complications is ventricular fibrillation. It is a fatal arrhythmia. The ventricles act like Jell-o, but do not contract any longer. Blood circulation is now impossible. This electric chaos leads to death within a few seconds.

There is no doubt that coronary units have reduced mortality rates since the mid-1960s from 30% to 15%. Their creation on the other hand was not easy!

The adventure of surgical treatment of these cholesterol plaques in the coronary arteries is incredible. Many surgeons have tried experiments to arrive at the bypass surgery that we know today.

For several years, in his laboratory with the help of friends and his wife, he tried to develop his idea of ​​crushing a cholesterol plaque in a coronary artery using a balloon.

Dr. Ross focused mainly on wound-healing mechanisms. His studies made him wonder: could the wound-healing process give rise to disease, given particular circumstances? As if yin was the healing process and yang its harmful opponent

This chapter highlights Akira Endo's determination to fight coronary heart disease. The medical community was aware that cholesterol was at the origin of this atheromatous plaque and that, despite the 2 treatments available at the time, no one knew what the future might bring. The first procedure meant taking a vein from another body part and bridging it over the obstructed area; the alternative was crushing the plaque with a tiny balloon. A historic advance was about to arise!