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50th Anniversary of First Open Heart Surgery
Wayne State’s Dr. Dodrill First to Use Mechanical Heart in 1952

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the world’s first successful open heart surgery—a procedure that made medical history in 1952, and is performed almost routinely today.

Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill captured national headlines when he used a mechanical heart pump to operate on a patient at Wayne State University’s Harper Hospital in Detroit.

Funded in part by the American Heart Association, and built as a public service by General Motors, the Dodrill-GMR (General Motors Research) mechanical heart looked much like a Cadillac V-12 engine. The historic operation re-routed blood around the heart, allowing the surgeon to repair a damaged valve.

“We’ve come a long way since that first heart operation by Dodrill in 1952. Now, it’s estimated that worldwide more than one million open heart operations are done using some form of heart-lung machine each year,” said Dr. Larry Stephenson, Wayne State University cardiothoracic surgeon and medical historian, who documented and researched the historic operation. “Without some form of blood pump or heart-lung machine, many of the heart operations we routinely do would not be possible.” According to the American Heart Association, 753,000 open-heart procedures were performed in 1999, the latest year for which figures are available.

In the early 1950s, there were few surgical options for people with heart ailments. A team of General Motors engineers used Dr. Dodrill’s conceptual designs to construct a machine that was used---not in a vehicle, but in an operating room.

“To develop this revolutionary machine, many GM engineers and researchers volunteered their time to support this great medical advancement,” said Joel Bender, MD, General Motors corporate medical director. “Today, GM continues the tradition of these selfless employees by funding research so medical breakthroughs like the Dodrill-GMR can be possible.”

At age five, Julie Miller’s extreme heart defects restricted her from normal physical activity. Dr. Dodrill performed surgery in 1961, making her one of the youngest heart-lung machine patients at the time. “Before the surgery, I didn’t have any recollection of playing outside, bike-riding, just everyday activities you’d think of a little kid doing. And after the surgery, the doctors were amazed how quickly I recovered. I had no limitations,” Miller said.

The success of Dodrill’s Michigan Heart started a wave of research and medical advances that continues today.

“The Dodrill-GMR Heart created the opportunity for advances in cardiac surgery we have witnessed over the past several decades, including bypass of narrowed coronary arteries, repair or replacement of damaged heart valves, and repair of congenital heart defects, said Robert Bonow, MD, president of the American Heart Association.

Although new technologies continue to be developed to correct heart problems, heart-lung machines are a mainstay for cardiac surgeons. With very high rates of survival and success, open-heart surgery is one of the most commonly performed operations in the United States.

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Editor’s Note:

Wayne State University has archived an extensive collection of historical material, including original 1950s video footage and photographs of early surgeries using the heart machine.

Available for personal interviews is Dr. Calvin Hughes, co-inventor of the mechanical heart and research biologist who operated the machine for all surgeries from 1951-1956. He is the only surviving member of the Michigan Heart team. Dr. Hughes is a resident of Saint Clair Shores, Mich.

A video news release with historical b-roll is available on DV or Beta tape. Included in the VNR are interviews with medical experts from the American Heart Association, General Motors and Wayne State University.