Richard A. DeWall (1926-2016), was an American

cardiothoracic surgeon Cardiothoracic surgery is the medical speciality, field of medicine involved in surgery, surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease), lungs (pulmonology, lung disease) ...

who in 1955 created the first workable, portable bubble oxygenator that removed bubbles, thus avoiding gas embolism during

cardiopulmonary bypass Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a technique in which a machine temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery, maintaining the circulation of blood and oxygen to the body. The CPB pump itself is often referred to as a he ...

. Later, he wrote the original plans for what became the Wright State University School of Medicine.

Early life and education

Richard Alison DeWall was born on 16 December 1926 to Grace Gardner and Herman Harvey DeWall in Appleton, Minnesota. After serving in the U.S. Navy until October 1945, he graduated from 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1949 and subsequently gained his MD in 1953.

Career

John Gibbon John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Early life Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fourt ...

had invented the heart-lung bypass machine and performed the first repair of the heart from the inside of the heart, using extracorporal perfusion in 1953. In 1955,

John W. Kirklin John Webster Kirklin (April 5, 1917 – April 21, 2004) was an American cardiothoracic surgeon, general surgeon, prolific author and medical educator who is best remembered for refining John Heysham Gibbon, John Gibbon's cardiopulmonary bypass, h ...

, who was a surgeon also researching heart-lung machines, was successful in using Gibbon’s modified heart-lung machine via a pump-oxygenator. Soon

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 ...

, who worked nearby, abandoned his technique of cross-circulation via a parent as a method of diverting blood through an external circuit. Gaining experience of the heart-lung machine while taking care of the procedure during anaesthetists breaks and challenged by Lillehei to find a solution to the undesired bubbles, DeWall became interested in the problems connected with oxygenating blood and in 1955, developed the first bubble oxygenator that removed bubbles, thus avoiding gas embolism. Silicon antifoam and Mayon polyethylene tubing were two important components of this Lillehei-DeWall bubble oxygenator. 350 open-heart operations were performed at the University of Minnesota within the following two years. DeWall founded the first open heart surgery programme at Kettering Hospital and later became the director of the general surgery residency-training programme there, which he established.

Death and legacy

DeWall died at his home 15 August 2016. In 2018 he was posthumously inducted into the Dayton Region's Walk of Fame. A replica of his first oxygenator is on display at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.

Selected publications

"Cardiovascular Inventiveness Within the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery"
''The Annals of Thoracic Medicine'' (June 2005), Vol. 79, Issue 6, pp. 2214–2216,
"Origins of open heart surgery at the University of Minnesota 1951 to 1956"
''

The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery ''The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, and vascular disease published by Elsevier. It is the official journal of the Ameri ...

'' (August 2011), Vol. 142, Issue 2, pp. 267–269,
"The Evolution of the Helical Reservoir Pump-Oxygenator System at the University of Minnesota"
''The Annals of Thoracic Medicine''. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. (2003).

References

External links

Interview:Richard DeWall
The Bakken Library and Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1998) {{DEFAULTSORT:DeWall, Richard American transplant surgeons 1926 births 2016 deaths History of transplant surgery