Richard A. DeWall (1926–2016), was an American cardiothoracic surgeon who in 1955 created the first workable, portable

bubble oxygenator A bubble oxygenator is an early implementation of the oxygenator used for cardiopulmonary bypass. It has since been supplanted by the membrane oxygenator as a result of advances in material science. Some continue to promote it as a low-cost alterna ...

that removed bubbles, thus avoiding

gas embolism An air embolism, also known as a gas embolism, is a blood vessel blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air or other gas in the circulatory system. Air can be introduced into the circulation during surgical procedures, lung over-expansion i ...

during

cardiopulmonary bypass Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or heart-lung machine, also called the pump or CPB pump, is a machine that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery by maintaining the circulation of blood and oxygen throug ...

. 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 Appleton is a city in Swift County, Minnesota, Swift County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 1,412 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The town is home to a vacant medium-security prison, the Prairie Correctional Facili ...

. After serving in the U.S. Navy until October 1945, he graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

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, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Holmesburg section ...

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, 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, who worked nearby, abandoned his technique of

cross-circulation Cross-circulation is a medical technique in which the circulatory system of one individual is temporarily connected to and shared with that of another, typically to support or maintain physiological function in cases where one system alone woul ...

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

. 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 Ame ...

'' (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