Floyd John Lewis (1916 – September 20, 1993) was an American surgeon who performed the first successful open heart operation, closing an

atrial septal defect Atrial septal defect (ASD) is a congenital heart defect in which blood flows between the atria (upper chambers) of the heart. Some flow is a normal condition both pre-birth and immediately post-birth via the foramen ovale; however, when this d ...

in a 5-year-old girl, on 2 September 1952. For the next 3 years, Lewis and colleagues operated on 60 patients with atrial septal defects using

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

and inflow occlusion. He was best friends with

C. Walton Lillehei Clarence Walton Lillehei (October 23, 1918 – July 5, 1999), was an American surgeon who pioneered open-heart surgery, as well as numerous techniques, equipment and prostheses for cardiothoracic surgery. Background Clarence (often called "W ...

and they worked together at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. In 1956, Lewis moved on from Minnesota to

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

where he became the first full-time member of the faculty of surgery. At Northwestern, Lewis continued investigating the use of hypothermia in the operating room. Lewis later trained Thomas Starzl, who was completing a fellowship in cardiovascular surgery at Northwestern, and helped him to win a Markle Scholarship. After being passed up for the Chair of Surgery position, Lewis departed for Santa Barbara in 1976 where he engaged in new careers: writing, hiking and mountain-climbing essays, and publishing a pamphlet entitled ''Bicycling Santa Barbara''. He died on 20 September 1993 in Santa Barbara of

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

References

1916 births 1993 deaths University of Minnesota faculty Northwestern University faculty American cardiac surgeons 20th-century surgeons {{US-physician-stub