May 24th
Born 24 May 1903; died 26 Mar 1988 at age 84.
Canadian heart surgeon, noted chiefly for his development, in 1950, of a surgical procedure for correction of impaired coronary circulation. In the Vineberg operation one end of an artery in the chest, called the internal mammary artery, is freed up. The side branches to the artery, like tributaries flowing off a river, are cut to allow blood to flow freely from them. The artery then is snaked under the surface of the heart muscle, and each time the heart beats, blood from the branches oozes into the heart muscle, nourishing it. Over time new vessels grow and supply blood to the myocardium. The first clinical procedure was carried out at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal in 1950. Modern bypass surgery pre-empted it in the 1960s.
