Robert Hans Goetz (17 April 1910,

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

– 15 December 2000,

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

) was the surgeon who performed the first successful clinical (i.e., human)

coronary artery bypass graft Coronary artery bypass surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG, pronounced "cabbage") is a surgical procedure to treat coronary artery disease (CAD), the buildup of plaques in the arteries of the heart. It can relieve chest pai ...

surgery. The surgery was performed May 2, 1960 using the left

internal thoracic artery In human anatomy, the internal thoracic artery (ITA), previously commonly known as the internal mammary artery (a name still common among surgeons), is an artery that supplies the anterior chest wall and the breasts. It is a paired artery, with o ...

. The graft remained patent, as demonstrated by

angiography Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins, and the heart chambers. Modern angiography is perfo ...

, and the patient remained free of

angina Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease. Angina is typically the result of obstruc ...

for one year. While names such as

Michael Debakey Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College ...

Christiaan Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident- ...

(a student of Goetz in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

), and others are well known, Goetz gained little recognition. Goetz was associate professor of surgery at the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

in 1957 and later professor of surgery at Bronx Municipal Hospital in 1961. He retired in 1982.

References

Robert H. Goetz: The First Coronary BypassKonstantinov, IE (June 2000). "Robert H. Goetz: the surgeon who performed the first successful clinical coronary bypass operation. Ann Thorac Surg 69 (6): 1966-72.
1910 births 2000 deaths American surgeons German cardiac surgeons Scientists from Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Yeshiva University faculty German emigrants to the United States 20th-century surgeons {{US-physician-stub