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Forest Dewey Dodrill, MD
ON THE COVER
Forest Dewey Dodrill, MD: Pioneer Cardiovascular Surgeon “The world’s first successful open heart operation was performed at Harper Hospital using this heart pump on July 3, 1952.” This is the caption on a glass case in a small and elegant permanent museum-type exhibit in the foyer of Harper (University) Hospital-Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. The glass case sits on a pedestal and contains the actual bypass apparatus (“heart pump”) used (see Fig. 1). Many cardiovascular surgeons may be aware of this event, but the surgical world at large is not. Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill, known as Dewey Dodrill to his medical and surgical colleagues, served in the ranks among the most illustrious of the earliest cardiovascular surgeons. His life spanned most of this century, from his West Virginia birth on January 26, 1902, to his death in 1997. He received the A.B. degree from West Virginia University, the M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School, and came to Detroit, directly after medical school for internship and residency at Harper Hospital. After nearly a decade in general surgical practice, he went to the University of Michigan (U.M.) for a few years (1942 to 1944) for postgraduate courses and further residency. He also served as Instructor in Surgery and received the M.S. degree (in Surgery) from U.M. in 1944. The rest of his professional life was
devoted to the practice of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. He had been in the town of Three Rivers, Michigan, for a while, but his professional career was based at Harper Hospital, and he was on staff and operated at other Detroit area hospitals. Dr. Dodrill was a Founding Member of The American Board of Thoracic Surgery, on the Board of Trustees of the American Heart Association, and on the Clinical Faculty in the Department of Surgery at Wayne State University. Dewey Dodrill, sometimes described as “austere looking,” was 1 of only a handful of the most significant early pioneers in heart surgery worldwide. He was among the first surgeons to perform the Blalock procedure for “blue babies” and to repair co-arctation of the aorta. His most salient achievement, however, is his position as the first surgeon in the world to perform successful open-heart surgery on bypass. His earliest open-heart operations were performed on cardiac bypass and not cardiopulmonary bypass. This may be the reason why even greater acclaim did not come his way. The heart pump, made by the General Motors Research Laboratories Division with his specifications, was known as the Dodrill-General Motors Mechanical Heart and as the “Michigan Heart.” In fitting fashion for a device made by an auto manufacturer, the pump looks like a
FIGURE 1. Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill (third from left) showing his heart machine to a group of visitors in 1952. Photograph kindly provided courtesy of the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. 344
CURRENT SURGERY • © 2002 by the Association of Program Directors in Surgery Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
0149-7944/02/$22.00 PII S0149-7944(01)00607-9
small chrome-plated V12 Cadillac engine. Actually, 3 identical pumps were made. One of the others is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution, and the other is on display at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.1,2 Dewey Dodrill’s worldwide “medical first,” the procedure in July, was the successful repair of a mitral valve regurgitation in a 41-year-old man with the pump totally bypassing the left side of the heart for 50 minutes. Dewey reported a complete right heart bypass on October 23, 1952. This was a successful repair of congenital pulmonary valvular stenosis in a 16-year-old boy. Dewey’s report on his first operation appeared in the October 1952 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA)3 and in the Detroit Free Press, and as the exhibit shows, the success of the Dodrill-GM “robot heart” was front-page headline news in major newspapers, including the New York World Telegram, The Cincinnati Enquirer, the Atlanta Journal, and the Detroit Times. Early recognition for Dewey Dodrill and his work included the Hektoen Medal of the American Medical Association (1953) and listing in the “Top Ten Scientific Developments of 1952” by the National Association of Science Writers. In 1987, the American Heart Association established the Forest Dewey Dodrill Award and named him the first recipient. The award is given yearly to a physician making major contributions in the area of cardiovascular diseases. A key factor in the success of the world’s first successful open-heart surgery on bypass was Dewey Dodrill’s recognition that cardiac surgeons needed to function as a team that included cardiologists, technicians, and surgical assistants. He appreciated the need for constant monitoring during open-heart procedures, including bases such as continuous electrocardiogram
CURRENT SURGERY • Volume 59/Number 3 • May/June 2002
and blood pressure monitoring, and he developed these techniques during his animal experiments and human open-heart procedures. Although Dewey Dodrill received considerable acclaim for his landmark contributions during his lifetime, his professional descendants in cardiovascular surgery in metropolitan Detroit do not believe that national and international recognition for the achievements in Detroit nearly 50 years ago have been adequate. The developers of total cardiopulmonary bypass have been justifiably lionized, but the earlier cardiac bypass procedures in Detroit require more prominence and world recognition for the sake of historical correctness. ALLEN SILBERGLEIT, MD Department of Surgery St. Joseph Mercy-Oakland Pontiac, Michigan Departments of Physiology and Surgery Wayne State University School of Medicine Detroit, Michigan
REFERENCES 1. Silbergleit A. Sesquicentennial bylines. Forest Dewey Do-
drill, M.D. Detroit Medical News 1999;LXXXX:4. 2. Silbergleit A. Biographies—Forest Dewey Dodrill, M.D. In
Painter PS, ed. W.C.M.S., A sesquincentennial celebration. Detroit, MI: Harlo Press; 2001. 3. Dodrill FD. Temporary mechanical substitute for left ven-
tricle in man. JAMA. 1952;150:642-644.
345
Forest Dewey Dodrill, MD: Pioneer Cardiovascular Surgeon “The world’s first successful open heart operation was performed at Harper Hospital using this heart pump on July 3, 1952.” This is the caption on a glass case in a small and elegant permanent museum-type exhibit in the foyer of Harper (University) Hospital-Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. The glass case sits on a pedestal and contains the actual bypass apparatus (“heart pump”) used (see Fig. 1). Many cardiovascular surgeons may be aware of this event, but the surgical world at large is not. Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill, known as Dewey Dodrill to his medical and surgical colleagues, served in the ranks among the most illustrious of the earliest cardiovascular surgeons. His life spanned most of this century, from his West Virginia birth on January 26, 1902, to his death in 1997. He received the A.B. degree from West Virginia University, the M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School, and came to Detroit, directly after medical school for internship and residency at Harper Hospital. After nearly a decade in general surgical practice, he went to the University of Michigan (U.M.) for a few years (1942 to 1944) for postgraduate courses and further residency. He also served as Instructor in Surgery and received the M.S. degree (in Surgery) from U.M. in 1944. The rest of his professional life was
devoted to the practice of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. He had been in the town of Three Rivers, Michigan, for a while, but his professional career was based at Harper Hospital, and he was on staff and operated at other Detroit area hospitals. Dr. Dodrill was a Founding Member of The American Board of Thoracic Surgery, on the Board of Trustees of the American Heart Association, and on the Clinical Faculty in the Department of Surgery at Wayne State University. Dewey Dodrill, sometimes described as “austere looking,” was 1 of only a handful of the most significant early pioneers in heart surgery worldwide. He was among the first surgeons to perform the Blalock procedure for “blue babies” and to repair co-arctation of the aorta. His most salient achievement, however, is his position as the first surgeon in the world to perform successful open-heart surgery on bypass. His earliest open-heart operations were performed on cardiac bypass and not cardiopulmonary bypass. This may be the reason why even greater acclaim did not come his way. The heart pump, made by the General Motors Research Laboratories Division with his specifications, was known as the Dodrill-General Motors Mechanical Heart and as the “Michigan Heart.” In fitting fashion for a device made by an auto manufacturer, the pump looks like a
FIGURE 1. Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill (third from left) showing his heart machine to a group of visitors in 1952. Photograph kindly provided courtesy of the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. 344
CURRENT SURGERY • © 2002 by the Association of Program Directors in Surgery Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
0149-7944/02/$22.00 PII S0149-7944(01)00607-9
small chrome-plated V12 Cadillac engine. Actually, 3 identical pumps were made. One of the others is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution, and the other is on display at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.1,2 Dewey Dodrill’s worldwide “medical first,” the procedure in July, was the successful repair of a mitral valve regurgitation in a 41-year-old man with the pump totally bypassing the left side of the heart for 50 minutes. Dewey reported a complete right heart bypass on October 23, 1952. This was a successful repair of congenital pulmonary valvular stenosis in a 16-year-old boy. Dewey’s report on his first operation appeared in the October 1952 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA)3 and in the Detroit Free Press, and as the exhibit shows, the success of the Dodrill-GM “robot heart” was front-page headline news in major newspapers, including the New York World Telegram, The Cincinnati Enquirer, the Atlanta Journal, and the Detroit Times. Early recognition for Dewey Dodrill and his work included the Hektoen Medal of the American Medical Association (1953) and listing in the “Top Ten Scientific Developments of 1952” by the National Association of Science Writers. In 1987, the American Heart Association established the Forest Dewey Dodrill Award and named him the first recipient. The award is given yearly to a physician making major contributions in the area of cardiovascular diseases. A key factor in the success of the world’s first successful open-heart surgery on bypass was Dewey Dodrill’s recognition that cardiac surgeons needed to function as a team that included cardiologists, technicians, and surgical assistants. He appreciated the need for constant monitoring during open-heart procedures, including bases such as continuous electrocardiogram
CURRENT SURGERY • Volume 59/Number 3 • May/June 2002
and blood pressure monitoring, and he developed these techniques during his animal experiments and human open-heart procedures. Although Dewey Dodrill received considerable acclaim for his landmark contributions during his lifetime, his professional descendants in cardiovascular surgery in metropolitan Detroit do not believe that national and international recognition for the achievements in Detroit nearly 50 years ago have been adequate. The developers of total cardiopulmonary bypass have been justifiably lionized, but the earlier cardiac bypass procedures in Detroit require more prominence and world recognition for the sake of historical correctness. ALLEN SILBERGLEIT, MD Department of Surgery St. Joseph Mercy-Oakland Pontiac, Michigan Departments of Physiology and Surgery Wayne State University School of Medicine Detroit, Michigan
REFERENCES 1. Silbergleit A. Sesquicentennial bylines. Forest Dewey Do-
drill, M.D. Detroit Medical News 1999;LXXXX:4. 2. Silbergleit A. Biographies—Forest Dewey Dodrill, M.D. In
Painter PS, ed. W.C.M.S., A sesquincentennial celebration. Detroit, MI: Harlo Press; 2001. 3. Dodrill FD. Temporary mechanical substitute for left ven-
tricle in man. JAMA. 1952;150:642-644.
345