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(Circulation. 1999;100:1364-1365.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.

In Memoriam

C. Walton Lillehei, the "Father of Open Heart Surgery"

	Introduction

 
On July 5, 1999, Clarence Walton Lillehei, one of the world's foremost cardiac surgeons, researchers, and educators, died at his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of prostate cancer at 80 years of age. Because Dr Lillehei pioneered a direct, safe approach to open heart operations in the 1950s, he was known as the "father of open heart surgery." Indeed, hardly any other cardiac surgeon has introduced a greater number of innovative techniques and concepts.

Born in Minneapolis in 1918, Walt Lillehei spent most of his life in his hometown, helping to establish its reputation as a center of biomedical excellence. When he was a boy, his surgical skill was foreshadowed by his technical dexterity in taking apart and rebuilding a Model-T Ford. Walt received his premedical and medical training at the University of Minnesota, earning an undergraduate degree in 1939, an MD in 1942, a master's in physiology, and a doctorate in surgery in 1951.

View larger version (123K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1.

During World War II, Dr Lillehei served in the Army Medical Corps in Europe, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and earning a Bronze Star for meritorious services. In 1945, he returned to the University of Minnesota and completed his residency under the direction of Dr Owen Wangensteen, then chairman of the Department of Surgery. Wangensteen promoted close collaboration between surgeons and physiologists and insisted that all surgeons participate in laboratory research. During his tenure as chairman, his department provided a stimulating creative environment that attracted many brilliant young surgeons. Wangensteen became Walt . . . [Full Text of this Article]