Michael Ellis DeBakeyBorn 7 Sep 1908. American physician, and pioneer cardiovascular surgeon who invented or perfected many medical devices, techniques and procedures, including arterial bypass operations, artificial hearts, heart pumps and heart transplants. DeBakey also played a key role in developing the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (M.A.S.H.) located only minutes from the battlefield to reduce the fatility rate for critically wounded soldiers. His Dacron graft revolutionized aneurysm repair. DeBakey performed (1953) the first successful carotid endarterectomy treatment for stroke, the first successful artificial heart implant (1963) and directed the world's first multiple-organ transplants (1968) from one donor giving a heart, a lung and both kidneys to four recipients.« |