Resumo

REVUELTA-SOBA, JM. Military surgeons who created cardiac surgery, regardless of their military activity. Sanid. Mil. [online]. 2022, vol.78, n.4, pp.281-284.  Epub 26-Jun-2023. ISSN 1887-8571.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/s1887-857120220004000014.

In the mid-twentieth century, cardiac surgery emerged thanks to John Gibbon & IBM Company heart-lung machine incorporation in Philadelphia, USA, allowing open heart surgery to be carry out, which was soon possible in most developing countries. However, a few years before, some surgeons tried to cure their patients with ingenious closed-heart surgical techniques. During World War II, several military surgeons landed a decisive role in the development of this surgery by incorporating some surgical techniques that saved the life of numerous soldiers on the battlefront, among them Dwight E. Harken and C. Walton Lillehei, worldwide considered «fathers of cardiac surgery». Several important achievements emerged later, from these pioneers, regardless of their military activity, such as the intensive care units, the first mitral valvuloplasties and mechanical artificial heart valves, the implantable cardiac pacemakers, or the use of moderate hypothermia in open heart surgery. The important contributions of these admirable surgeons constituted the building blocks on which modern cardiac surgery was built.

Palavras-chave : Health Medical Corps; cardiac surgery; valvuloplasty; mechanical heart valve; cardiac pacemaker.

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