DeBakey, father of bypass surgery, dies at 99

He was responsible to begin an era of modern open heart surgery, DeBakey has many discoveries to his name. Cardiologists across the globe have expressed their grief on his demise. One among them is Dr BK Goyal leading cardiologist from Bombay Hospital who met him twice.

DeBakey underwent surgery in February 2006 for a damaged aorta, a procedure that he had developed.

In the 1960s, he began coronary arterial bypasses. It was one of the 1988 evenings when Goyal hosted a dinner for DeBakey and his wife Katrin Fehlhaber a German film star. “I fondly remember the evening he had come to my house for dinner after visiting Bombay Hospital,” said Goyal. DeBakey was in India for a three-day cardiology conference. Goyal added, “I still remember what he said about Indian cardiology that evening. DeBakey was very happy with the Indian cardiologists. He said Indian cardiology is at a very good footing and can be compared with the best around the world. Indian cardiologists in United States are doing very well,” recollects Goyal.

According to Goyal, before he invented bypass surgery and before it came to India, patients here had just four-treatment options — complete bed rest, oxygen, morphin injection to reduce pain and last prayers to God. “There was high mortality rate among patients with cardiac problems. Twenty-five years back deaths due to heart attacks was very frequent. Whereas nowadays people suffering with cardiac problems undergo bypass or angioplasty which is a common phenomena,” he said.

DeBakey’s exemplary work in the field of cardiology changed the spectrum of the disease, which once upon a time had 30 per cent mortality but now reduced to 4 to 5 per cent in India.

“When I was in USA in the year 1989 I took the opportunity to visit his hospital, The Methodist Hospital in Houston which was considered a temple for cardiology. At the entrance a life-size statue of DeBakey was placed which showed the devotion of his staffers. He was busy in the surgery, irrespective of his age. He had back to back surgeries and I had to wait for a while but as soon as he got the message he came out after the first surgery. He worked till the age of 90. He worked really hard to make his institute the best in the world,” said Goyal.

Even though angioplasty has replaced bypass surgery, it still holds a very important place in the field of cardiology. “In the last 15 years angioplasty has replaced bypass in India. Only 15 to 20 percent patients undergo bypass surgery. Others opt for angioplasty especially because of the use of drug coated stent,” said Goyal.

However, none of the cardiologists can deny the contribution made by DeBakey. “All the cardiac surgeons in the world owe him something. He is truly the father of cardiac surgery,” said Goyal.

DeBakey not only invented bypass surgery, but also was the first to perform replacement of arterial aneurysms and obstructive lesions in the mid-1950s. He later developed bypass pumps and connections to replace excised segments of diseased arteries. He was a pioneer in the effort to develop artificial hearts and heart pumps to assist patients waiting for transplants and helped create more than 70 surgical instruments, called ‘DeBakey instruments’.