Introduction
Mayo Clinic revolutionized heart surgery, using a device that took over the heart’s role in pumping blood and the lungs’ role in delivering oxygen to enrich the blood. From the machine’s first use on March 22, 1955, Mayo had the world’s first series of successful operations with the heart-lung bypass machine, showing that many patients could benefit from the new technology.
Learn More Through the Hotspots
Heart-Lung Bypass Machine
This machine dates to the mid-1950s, soon after Mayo Clinic specialists modified a device developed by Philadelphia surgeon John Gibbon, M.D., in collaboration with IBM. The Mayo-Gibbon Heart-Lung Machine, as it was known, opened a new era in heart surgery.
A Pioneering Patient
In 1955, Linda Stout became the first patient to undergo cardiac bypass surgery at Mayo Clinic. This photo was taken at her sixth birthday, six months after the successful operation.
Teamwork
Teamwork is the hallmark of Mayo Clinic. This photo shows some of the technicians whose skills helped develop the new field of cardiac bypass surgery.
