Dr Richard
Gorlin, one of the preeminent cardiologists of the
latter half of the 20th century, died on October 16, 1997, at age 71
years, of pancreatic cancer. Until the last days of his illness, Dr
Gorlin continued to work as a physician, to serve as Medical Director
of the Mount Sinai Health System, and to inspire those around him.
Dr Gorlin's contributions to
cardiovascular medicine are legendary and have
immensely influenced the clinical care of patients with
valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease, and
congestive heart failure. He earned an international reputation when,
in collaboration with his father, a mechanical engineer who designed
hydraulic systems for gasoline engines at the beginning of the century,
he developed a formula to calculate the area of stenotic
cardiac valves and congenital heart chamber defects. The "Gorlin
formula," still considered the "gold standard" for diagnosis of
critical heart valve obstruction, was crucial to the evolution of
cardiac surgery because it allowed proper case selection and
contributed greatly to the design of artificial valves.
Dr Gorlin conducted pioneering studies of coronary
blood flow and myocardial metabolism in ischemic
and hypertrophic heart disease and demonstrated that some areas of the
myocardium that appear mechanically quiescent can, when
stimulated, exhibit contractile activity. This observation foreshadowed
by a decade the concept of "hibernating myocardium." Dr
Gorlin was among the first to describe what is now widely recognized as
"microvascular angina" in a group of patients without
coronary obstruction. He also described "myocardial
asynergy" related to coronary artery
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.
In Memoriam
Richard Gorlin, MD
The Passing of a Legend and a Mentor