Did Elder NELSON develop the heart-lung machine?

[_I have a question]

Sister Nelson spoke of the advances in medicine President Nelson made as a young doctor, specifically his work in developing the heart-lung machine that helped support the first open-heart operation on a human being in 1951.

“To become the successful surgeon he was to become and to do what had never been done before, he actually had to defy the very books from which he studied,” Sister Nelson said. “His medical textbook read, ‘do not touch the beating heart.’”

Even one of the most famous surgeons of that time proclaimed that any surgeon that attempted to operate on the heart would lose all credibility within the medical profession.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865 ... h-him.html

In the late 1940s, continuing his work on several different versions of the ever-improving heart-lung machine, he contacted the IBM Corporation to collaborate on manufacturing the possible first human version. This occurred because one of his medical students had been very friendly with Thomas Watson, who was then the Chairman of the Board of IBM. IBM worked with him in developing Model I of the heart-lung machine. Though relatively successful in extensive experimentation in animals,8 it was ineffective in supporting the total cardiopulmonary bypass system in volumes large enough to support a human being. Many notable peripheral events related to cardiac surgical techniques and technologies occurred during those 23 years of research. He had to decipher every aspect of artificial circulation we now take for granted: how to drain the blood from the body, how to pump it back, how to clear air from the inside of the heart, how to anticoagulate successfully without clotting the machinery, etc.

After the first IBM model failed to work as well as he had hoped, Dr Gibbon developed a second model in his own laboratory, which was the successful machine that eventually allowed human bypass operations. The final design of Model II (Figure) developed in the early 1950s9 consisted of a screen oxygenator, which allowed blood on both sides of the screen mesh to interface with oxygen, and three roller pumps modified from Dr Michael DeBakey’s original transfusion pump design10 to pump the blood back into the body. The disassembling, cleansing, and sterilization of nondisposable equipment were, of course, critical and laborious parts of the research project.

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/107/17/2168

HEART-LUNG MACHINES
The dream of building a machine to take over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery had existed before World War II. Early prototypes, built by pioneers like Dr. John Gibbon in Great Britain, were cumbersome and dangerous—often leaking blood, damaging blood cells and causing air embolisms. It wasn't until 1958, when a system that involved bubbling blood was perfected, that "heart-lung" machines came of age. Dr. Dennis Melrose of London further increased chances for success when he pioneered an injection that stopped the heart from beating during surgery.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/pione ... rgery.html

In 1953 John Gibbon realised his 20-year vision and performed the first successful operation on a human using the heart-lung machine. The patient, Cecelia Bavolek, whose heart was connected to the machine for 45 minutes, recovered fully from the operation. However, the technique still had a major flaw; the heart was left beating during surgery with some blood still reaching it, and this made it messy and difficult to operate on.

http://www.understandinganimalresearch. ... g-machine/

Now we get to the bottom of it...

An Austrian-German physiologist Maximilian von Frey constructed an early prototype of a heart-lung machine in 1885 at Carl Ludwig’s Physiological Institute of the University of Leipzig.[2] However, such machines were not feasible before the discovery of heparin in 1916 which prevents blood coagulation. A Soviet scientist Sergei Brukhonenko developed a heart-lung machine for total body perfusion in 1926 which was used in experiments with canines. Dr. Clarence Dennis led the team that conducted the first known operation involving open cardiotomy with temporary mechanical takeover of both heart and lung functions on April 5, 1951 at the University of Minnesota Hospital. The patient did not survive due to an unexpected complex congenital heart defect. This followed four years of laboratory experimentation with dogs with a unit called the Iron Heart. A team of scientists at Birmingham University (including Eric Charles, a Chemical Engineer) were among the pioneers of this technology.[3][4] Another member of the team was Dr. Russell M. Nelson, who performed the first open heart surgery in Utah.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiop ... ss#History

[_DrW]

Claiming a significant role in development of the modern heart lung machine for cardiopulmonary bypass surgery is like claiming a significant role in development of the Apollo space program.

The role in question may well have been significant to the individual who performed it, and even to their colleagues at the time. However, unless one makes a nearly independent and truly breakthrough discovery in terms of methods (e.g. significantly lowering body temperature during the procedure) or machinery (critical advances in machine design or component materials), the role of any single individual is of little consequence in the long run.

"First in Utah" is a far cry from "First".

[_I have a question]

“To become the successful surgeon he was to become and to do what had never been done before, he actually had to defy the very books from which he studied,” Sister Nelson said

What did NELSON do, that had never been done before, that defied the medical books he was studying from at the time?

And is the message here that institute and seminary students would do well to defy the very books from which they study?

[_sock puppet]

And is the message here that institute and seminary students would do well to defy the very books from which they study?

That would be the wise thing for those institute and seminary students to do, and then promptly drop those classes and run and don't look back.

[_mentalgymnast]

Sister Nelson spoke of the advances in medicine President Nelson made as a young doctor, specifically his work in developing the heart-lung machine that helped support the first open-heart operation on a human being in 1951.

To add to your references:

He...pursued joint surgical training and doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. There, he worked on the research team responsible for developing the heart-lung machine that supported the first open-heart operation on a human being in 1951.

Nelson returned to Salt Lake City in 1955 and accepted a faculty position at the University of Utah School of Medicine. There he built his own heart-lung bypass machine and employed it to support the first open-heart surgery in the state of Utah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_M._Nelson

That's actually pretty cool. I didn't know he had been involved in this way with the technology.

Thanks for posting.

Regards,
MG

[Guest]

Claiming a significant role in development of the modern heart lung machine for cardiopulmonary bypass surgery is like claiming a significant role in development of the Apollo space program.

The role in question may well have been significant to the individual who performed it, and even to their colleagues at the time. However, unless one makes a nearly independent and truly breakthrough discovery in terms methods (e.g. significantly lowering body temperature during the procedure) or machinery (critical advances in machine design or component materials), the role of any single individual is of little consequence in the long run.

"First in Utah" is a far cry from "First".

The "first in Utah" part is not the only misdirection in this story, Dr. W....

This story came up in a thread sometime in the last year or so, and the methodology described seemed troublesome, so I looked into the issue. What I found was that in order to make this a Mormon faith promoting story, the actual truth was severely distorted. It's unfortunate, because a great many people put tremendous efforts into developing the heart-lung machine, and it was their combined and collaborative efforts that should be celebrated, not Elder Nelson with his lone "God told me" version.

Sister Nelson spoke of the advances in medicine President Nelson made as a young doctor, specifically his work in developing the heart-lung machine that helped support the first open-heart operation on a human being in 1951.

“To become the successful surgeon he was to become and to do what had never been done before, he actually had to defy the very books from which he studied,” Sister Nelson said. “His medical textbook read, ‘do not touch the beating heart.’ ”

Even one of the most famous surgeons of that time proclaimed that any surgeon that attempted to operate on the heart would lose all credibility within the medical profession.

:rolleyes: Even that story is lifted from somewhere else. It was an extremely innovative procedure, and the atmosphere reflected that:

Given the wide variety and effectiveness of cardiovascular surgical techniques that are now routinely used, it is remarkable how, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the surgical treatment of heart disease was considered to be outside the limits of propriety and acceptability. The innovative Theodor Billroth cast a wary eye on any such attempts in his time. Although his disapproval did not appear in any of his published work, at a meeting of the Vienna Medical Society in 1881 he reportedly muttered, “No surgeon who wished to preserve the respect of his colleagues would ever attempt to suture a wound of the heart.”1

From article: Cardiac Surgery: A Century of Progress,
Tex Heart Inst J. 2011; 38(5): 486–490. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... 540/#r18-5

Back to Ms. Nelson's version:

“However, young Dr. Nelson had a source he honored more than that famous surgeon, and a book which he honored more than his medical textbook,” Sister Nelson said. “Dr. Nelson’s source was the Lord, and the book was the Doctrine and Covenants.”

It was through pondering two truths in the Doctrine and Covenants — one, all blessings are predicated on obedience to divine law, and two, to every kingdom there is a law given — that Dr. Nelson started to wonder what eternal laws govern the beating heart?

“This question catapulted him into the journey of pioneering open heart surgery," Sister Nelson said. President Nelson helped in the invention of the heart-lung machine that assisted in the surgery.

But in actuality, the D&C wasn't involved at all, nor was it Nelson "pioneering open heart surgery." It was a collaboration whose research had begun decades before Nelson was even in Medical school:

Between 1950 and 1955, 5 medical centers were actively engaged in the development of a heart-lung machine, each with a different idea of how it should function. At the University of Toronto Medical School, William Mustard.... In Detroit at Wayne State Medical School, Forest Dodrill enlisted.... John Gibbon at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.... At the University of Minnesota Medical School, Clarence Dennis had developed.... Finally, at the Mayo Clinic, John Kirklin and his colleagues were building a heart-lung machine....

From "Historical Perspectives in Cardiology: Evolution of Cardiopulmonary Bypass," by William S. Stoney, in Circulation Journal.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/119/21/2844

Nelson is listed as a team participant, only in 1951, in one of the five research groups listed.

Here is the very motivating and inspiring story, the story the rest of the world hears, a story of cooperation and collaboration that is very different from Sister Nelson's isolated, supernatural version:

In a way, it was a race to see which method would be the most successful, but at the same time it was a friendly race with continuous and generous sharing of new information and ideas at scientific meetings, visits, correspondence, and telephone calls.

For example, John Kirklin described his reaction in 1954 to the news that Walt Lillehei had successfully operated on a child with a ventricular septal defect using cross circulation. “I was terribly envious and yet I was terribly admiring at the same moment and that admiration increased when a short time later a few of my colleagues and I visited Minneapolis and observed a succession of open-heart operations.”9

This is how each project evolved or was discarded....

From article: Cardiac Surgery: A Century of Progress,
Tex Heart Inst J. 2011; 38(5): 486–490. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... 540/#r18-5

So yet another faith-promoting rumor is circulating, with the truth mangled and twisted in order to make the religion look good. It does an egregious disservice to the motivating and astonishing story of the hard work and devotion of the actual scientists and researchers, a story that the young people beginning their education should be hearing, not a supernatural fable.

[_Gadianton]

Thanks for the research Lemmie, that was some great stuff.

It was through pondering two truths in the Doctrine and Covenants — one, all blessings are predicated on obedience to divine law, and two, to every kingdom there is a law given — that Dr. Nelson started to wonder what eternal laws govern the beating heart?

That has got to be the stupidest statement I've read all year. Not even certain people who post ridiculous things here who I won't mention by name have coughed up a non-sequitur that bad. The observations of Zarinus look like sheer genius compared to this. I'm telling you right now that this did not happen. Nelson's interests were formed through routine channels, and only in retrospect did he make this up, if in fact it was himself and not his wife who made it up. Somebody is lying. I'm telling you right now, it's not just a matter of having silly personal revelations, but the order of events were NOT Nelson reading the D&C and then out of nowhere, wondering what the laws were (in a major equivocation) governing the beating heart? It was retrospectively thinking or inventing that he'd read the D&C prior to investigating the "beating heart".

[_moksha]

This might be of use in further backup studies.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6816489_The_history_of_extracorporeal_oxygenators

I downloaded it as a .pdf file.

Dr. Clarence Dennis led the team that conducted the first known operation involving open cardiotomy with temporary mechanical takeover of both heart and lung functions on April 5, 1951 at the University of Minnesota Hospital. The patient did not survive due to an unexpected complex congenital heart defect.

[_Stem]

Can't fault her too much. the poor wife can't possibly be expected to really get what the husband is up to. My wife still thinks I invented the computer. If she found out the truth, my station would be compromised. Don't you all dare try and upset that type of imbalance.

[_RockSlider]

He may have invented the heart/lung machine, but Al Gore still has him beat by inventing the internet.