Ann Thorac Surg 2002;74:612-614
© 2002 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Our surgical heritage
Leland C. Clark and Frank Gollan: bubble oxygenators and perfusion hypothermia
Robert S. Litwak, MD*a
a Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, USA
* Address reprint requests to Dr Litwak, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center (Box 1028), One Gustave Levy Pl, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA
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Introduction
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The 1940s and 1950s were witness to extraordinary innovativeness of many investigators, all seeking to develop satisfactory methods of hypothermia and extracorporeal circulation (ECC). That the genesis and ultimate fruition of an idea is virtually always the result of the efforts of many investigators is clearly reflected in the comprehensive texts of Galletti and Brecher [1], Shumacker [2], and Johnson [3] and brings to mind a remark attributed to the Nobel laureate, Lord Ernest Rutherford, that "it is not in the nature of things for any one man to make a sudden violent discovery. Science goes step by step, and every man depends on the work of his predecessors." Having had the privilege of knowing for many years the distinguished physician investigator, Frank Gollan, as close friend and colleague, the time seemed appropriate to record a bit of history concerning events of a half-century ago in which he collaborated with Leland C. Clark, Jr, PhD, in the development of a gas dispersion oxygenator and, later, undertook extensive investigation of perfusion hypothermia.
The oxygenator investigation began at the Fels Research Institute for the Study of Human Development at Antioch College where Dr Clark, the chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, Gollan, and a research associate, Vishwa Gupta, devised and described an efficient bubble oxygenator [4–6]. Although the apparatus was slightly modified later [7], there were three essential features: a multi-perforated disc, a coalescence ("def oaming") chamber, and a combined bubble trap and oxygenated blood residence component (Figs. 1 and 2).
Oxygen under pressure was dispersed through the porous disc into a venous blood column that instantly created arterialized foam. A key feature of the system was the capacity to efficiently coalesce the oxygenated foam by contact with glass beads that had been coated . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Copyright © 2002 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
