Dr. Michael E. DeBakey
September 7, 1908 - July 11, 2008
In Memoriam:
Dr. Michael
E. DeBakey
September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008
On July 11, 2008, internationally
renowned surgeon and inventor, Dr. Michael E.
DeBakey, died from natural causes at the age of
99. Over his 70-year career, Dr. DeBakey performed
more than 60,000 heart surgeries, invented more
than 50 surgical instruments and was often in
the media spotlight for his work with heads of
state and celebrities.
On April 8, 2008, President
George W. Bush presented
Dr. DeBakey with the
Congressional Gold Medal
for a lifetime of achievement
in medicine.On April 8, 2008, President George
Bush presented Dr. DeBakey with the Congressional
Gold Medal for a lifetime of achievement in medicine.
Dr. DeBakey, best known for his trailblazing innovations
in treating cardiovascular disease, performed
the first successful use of a left ventricular
assist device in 1966.
In 1984, at the Baylor College
of Medicine, Dr. DeBakey and Dr. George Noon performed
a heart transplant on NASA engineer David Saucier.
That event led to the development of the DeBakey
VAD® through the combined efforts of Drs. DeBakey
and Noon, NASA, Baylor College of Medicine and
Houston-based MicroMed Cardiovascular, Inc.
In 1998, the first implant of the
DeBakey VAD® was performed at the German Heart
Institute Berlin in Germany, directed by Prof.
Roland Hetzer. In June 2000, Dr. DeBakey himself
performed the first implant of this VAD in a U.S.
patient at Methodist Hospital in Houston.
Dr. DeBakey holding the
WorldHeart Novacor ventricular assist device
pump unit (left)
and the MicroMed
DeBakey VAD® (right).
“It has been a privilege
and an honor to work with such a great man,”
said Robert Benkowski, CEO of MicroMed Cardiovascular.
“Without Dr. DeBakey’s vision and
active contributions, we would not have been able
to develop a VAD of this size and capability.
The world is a better place because of Dr. DeBakey
and he is an inspiration to us all.”
1998: Dr. DeBakey
and Prof. Roland Hetzer at the German Heart
Institute, Berlin. That year, Hetzer performed
the first human implant of the DeBakey VAD®.
Today, the modern version of the
MicroMed VAD weighs 92 grams and is designed to
pump 1-10 L/min. There have been more than 440
implants of the DeBakey VAD® worldwide.
MicroMed received CE Mark approval for the adult
DeBakey VAD® on April 27, 2001, and later for its
pediatric version for children as small as 40
lbs. In 2004, the pediatric VAD received FDA approval
and the adult version is currently in an FDA-approved
clinical trial.
|
