title: Julian's reintroduction of Milton's operation.
abstract: Four years after the first successful open heart operation in 1953, most cardiac surgeons were using bilateral anterior thoracotomy. This tedious, time-consuming, complication-prone, painful procedure was abandoned only after Julian and associates demonstrated the marked superiority of median sternotomy. Although median sternotomy was described by Milton in 1897, it was a seldom-used procedure at the time of Julian and associates' publication in 1957. The present-day routine use of median sternotomy for virtually all cardiac operations is a testimonial to the foresight and practicality of Julian's experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Mercer University School of Medicine, Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dalton
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Connally
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Sealy
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods; D013249:Sternum / Q000601:surgery*; D014481:United States