Before 1952, open heart surgery was considered science fiction. The heart was off limits to surgeons despite more than half a million Americans dying annually from heart disease. The tens of thousands of children born with congenital heart anomalies were doomed to languish and perish as well. Doing nothing was the strategy.
But the deadly status quo would soon explode thanks to a few brave and imaginative surgeons who dared to break the most rigid of medical taboos: Do not touch the human heart. CARDIAC COWBOYS: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery by Gerald Imber tells the story of the dramatic invention of open-heart surgery and the courageous crew of doctors who made it happen, setting into motion a massive shift in the American medical system that has saved millions of lives.
Following the careers of Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Norman Shumway, Christiaan Barnard, and C. Walton Lillehei, five ambitious yet deeply flawed surgeons, CARDIAC COWBOYS gives readers a front row seat to how they devised heart transplants and bypass surgery, invented artificial heart valves and the lifesaving pacemaker, and worked toward the holy grail of an artificial heart, all while they each raced to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. While some of these maverick surgeons ended up on the cover of Time magazine, operated on kings, and advised presidents, others found themselves broke, disgraced, convicted of felony charges, and sued for millions of dollars in malpractice lawsuits. Still, together, these men ignited a revolution in medicine that helped make cardiac surgery the miracle it is today.
Chronicling the seminal events that took place seventy years ago and gave rise to the advances that continue to this day, CARDIAC COWBOYS presents a thrilling saga of how these brilliant surgeons and the patients who risked their lives launched a linear, exponential, and complete overhaul of human life expectancy.
About the Author:
Gerald Imber is an internationally renowned plastic surgeon. He is the author of numerous beauty books, including The Youth Corridor, Wendell Black, MD: A Novel, and the highly regarded biography Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted. Dr. Imber has spoken on the life of Halsted, the father of modern surgery, at numerous medical meetings throughout the country and is the acknowledged expert.
Dr. Imber is an attending surgeon at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, an assistant clinical professor of surgery at the Weill-Cornell Medical Center, and the director of a private clinic. He has been the subject of numerous articles and has made innumerable media appearances.