First Pump Oxygenator

Description -- How to replace the heart's function during cardiac surgery? This was one of the great medical challenges after World War II.

Some doctors slowed the heart by cooling a patient with ice. The University of Minnesota pioneered a technique of connecting another person to take over the patient's circulation.

At Mayo Clinic, Dr. John Kirklin and colleagues began looking at a "bypass machine" to provide the function of the heart and lungs. Dr. John Gibbon of Philadelphia had developed it with support from IBM -- but only one patient had survived after using it.

Mayo Clinic modified the machine. It was a classic team effort and the ultimate "do-it-yourself project." There was no blueprint to follow. For nearly three years, Mayo's team of diverse specialists worked closely together. They wrote the plans, built the parts and tested the results.

Mayo's first use of the machine with a patient -- on March 22, 1955 -- was a success. The heart-lung bypass machine soon became the "gold standard" in cardiac surgery around the world.