Gibbon Develops the Heart-Lung Machine
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Science and Technology Series
- Categories: Science, Medicine, Health, Technology, Inventions
- Subcategories: Biology, Biologists, Scientists, Inventors, Doctors, Physicians, Nurses
- Curriculum: American History 1901-1950
- Geographical Location: New England, Boston
- Date: Fall, 1934
Article abstract: Gibbon developed and tested, in animals and then humans, the first artificial device to oxygenate and circulate blood during surgery, thus beginning the era of open-heart surgery.
Summary of Event
In the first half of the twentieth century, cardiovascular medicine had many triumphs. Effective anesthesia, antiseptic conditions, and antibiotics made surgery of all kinds safer; blood typing, anticlotting agents, and blood preservatives made blood transfusion practical; cardiac catheterization (feeding a tube into the heart),...
[The entire page is 2258 words long]
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