Cardiothoracic surgery at the Mount Sinai Hospital.
Beginning in the early years of the twentieth century, there has been a continuing record of significant contribution made by Mount Sinai physicians to the surgical management of thoracic and cardiovascular pathology. The availability of intratracheal anesthesia, a method developed at this institution, was the sine qua non which made it possible for surgeons to perform thoracic, and later, cardiac procedures. Of great importance to medicine in general, and surgery in particular, were the investigations of two Mount Sinai physicians that made the transfusion of blood safe, and the modern blood bank a reality. The later contributions of Mount Sinai staff members in the effective employment of open-heart surgery without the use of donor blood, mechanical support of the failing heart, cardiac transplantation, and complex aortic surgery is described.
Litwak
Robert S
RS
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Box 1028, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One East 100th Street, New York, NY 10029, USA.
D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000266:history; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000266:history / Q000601:surgery; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000266:history; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000266:history; D009519:New York City; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000266:history; D013903:Thoracic Surgery / Q000266:history*; D000078329:Workforce