The Early Days of Surgery for Cardiac Injuries

Abstract

Over many centuries, wounds of the heart were thought to be fatal. With the introduction of first anaesthesia and then antiseptic surgery in the second half of the 19th century, there was an explosion in surgery; the abdominal cavity, the chest, the skull were explored and operated upon and yet the heart was considered to be a ‘no go’ region of the body. One of the greatest and most innovative surgeons of that time, Theodor Billroth of Vienna, who must be considered one of the fathers of modern surgery, with pioneering work on many parts of the body, wrote: ‘The surgeon who attempts to suture a wound of the heart should lose the respect of his colleagues’.