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AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A HEART SURGEON
The Artificial Heart: The Frontier of Human Life |
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AMAZING ADVENTURES of a HEART SURGEON
The Artificial Heart: The Frontier of Human Life.
Domingo Liotta, MD
The book dwells upon the innermost core of old philosophies while also contrasting them with modern science.
In this collaborative endeavor between science and humanities, Amazing Adventures of a Heart Surgeon relates Liotta´s marvelous adventure to create the Assisted Mechanical Circulation—the Liotta-DeBakey ventricular assist device—and to develop the first artificial heart and its clinical application—the Liotta-Cooley total artificial heart— both first in the history of medicine.
In 2006, the Liotta-Cooley artificial heart was selected to be prominently displayed in the new Smithsonian Treasures of American History Exhibit in Washington, DC. “This establishes it as a worthy part of human history in my opinion,” stated Denton A. Cooley.
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Amazing Adventures of a Heart Surgeon is aimed at:
• Physicians all over the world, throughout their tireless fight for human life.
• Youngsters that apply for universities. They will acquire well-defined concepts of philosophy—the mysterious power and ancient secrets of the first millennium BC— contrasting with modern science.
• Students of medicine. The existential two sides of medical science: on the one hand the glories of modern science and on the other hand the person whose mysterious and unique dignity is not shared with others and is unattainable by scientific knowledge. This is the mystery of human life.
The purpose of the book is:
• To review the history of Mechanical Assisted Circulation and the Artificial Heart, both clinically implanted for the first time in medical history in Houston, during the 60’s.
• To highlight that, above all, Liotta had the official mission of training cardiovascular surgeons, mostly on Chinese soil, for twenty-two years (1973-1996) |
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Preface
I humbly present this book to the thousands of patients I have treated. It is my gift to them.
My patients have always remained my deepest concern during the hours of anguish that were inevitable during fifty years of clinical practice in cardiac surgery. Throughout my career, I have firmly committed myself to successfully solving the complexities of their heart disease. I have put into this endeavor not only my medical knowledge, but also the compassion from the innermost depths of my heart. The resolution of patients’ pathologies is the motive that sets today’s dazzling cardiac surgery in motion.
I am sure that my dear patients remember very well the many trying and unforgettable circumstances that they have suffered —this is only human nature. Their treatments were performed under heavy pressure, and surgery often took place under the most demanding conditions.
In this book I dwell upon the innermost core of old philosophies that helped me to discover the profound mysteries and endless problems of life, while also contrasting those philosophies with science. These humanistic studies help me to overcome the difficulties of my daily work dealing with patients suffering from advanced heart failure. Despite their apparent deep-rooted difference with my work in the operating room, these humanistic messengers were a blessing, a vital, instinctive force necessary to keep me fighting on in the most tragic conditions.
This scholarly reasoning —this mysterious, romantic thought— is usually the strongest motive in the cardiac surgeon’s mind as he seeks the majestic peace that comes from an honest desire to do his duty with both scientific knowledge and true dignity. To my dear patients, I dedicate these as well.
Domingo Liotta, MD |
AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A HEART SURGEON
The Artificial Heart: The Frontiers of Human Life
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any
means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written
permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
Copyright © 2007 by Domingo Liotta, MD
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The information, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute
for professional medical advice. Before following any suggestions contained in this
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publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising as a
consequence of your use or application of any information or suggestions in this book.
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-40428-5 (pbk)
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-84804-1 (ebk)
ISBN-10: 0-595-40428-6 (pbk)
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN-10: 0-595-84804-4 (ebk) |
| Contents |
Preface
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Domingo Liotta, M.D.
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Education and Qualifications |
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| Venerable Records |
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SECTION I
TAOISM: Soul and Nature
THE HEART IN CHINESE IDEOGRAMS |
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CHAPTER 1
Pierre Marion at the Ancienne Eglise |
CHAPTER 2
In the Old Church Nave |
CHAPTER 3
In Search of Tian Tshi |
CHAPTER 4
Taoism |
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An ancient Chinese Philosophy
as Background to the Modern struggle
for Preservation of the Planet’s Ecology |
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SECTION II
THE PHILOSOPHICAL ADVENTURE
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| Introduction |
CHAPTER 5
The Crafty Old Fox |
CHAPTER 6
Inima’s Philosophical Simplified “Formula”: |
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The Teaching of Philosophy in Contrast to Science |
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CHAPTER 7
The First Millennium BC |
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Axial Time of Humanity
Ugarit: Mythic lost City |
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CHAPTER 8
Socrates |
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The Discovery of the Concept
Amicus Humani Genesis
(friend of human race) |
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CHAPTER 9
Plato |
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The Discovery of Logic Dialogue |
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CHAPTER 10
The Two Worlds of Plato |
CHAPTER 11
Aristotle |
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The discovery of Scientific Research |
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CHAPTER 12
Aristotle |
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CHAPTER 13
Saint Thomas of Aquinas |
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CHAPTER 14
Modern Scientific Atheism |
SECTION III
SCIENCE IN OLD CULTURES |
| Introduction |
CHAPTER 15
Esthetics and Art
in the Greeks’ Time |
CHAPTER 16
The Mysterious Power of Shamanism |
CHAPTER 17
Greeks’ Medicine |
CHAPTER 18
Diets, Genetics and Heredity
in the Greeks’ Time |
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The Grounds of Today’s Diets |
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CHAPTER 19
The Conception of Cardiovascular System
in the Greeks’s Time |
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The Perpetual Circle of Scientific Knowledge |
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CHAPTER 20
The Oxygenation of Tissues |
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CHAPTER 21
The Heart and the Midbrain |
CHAPTER 22
The end of the Summerhouse Lectures |
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The Ordeal of Dr. Angel J. Battistessa |
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CHAPTER 23
Kant’s Transcendental Idealism |
SECTION IV
BIOLOGY WITH A MACHINE
No Pause to Fight for Life |
CHAPTER 24
Mechanic Circulatory Assistance:
Left Ventricular Assist Device |
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First Clinical Use
1961-1966: The Feat on the Grounds
* Baylor University College of Medicine
* Methodist Hospital, Houston
Dear is Plato, but dearest still is truth |
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CHAPTER 25
Artificial Heart |
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First Clinical Use
1959-1969: The Feat on the Grounds
* National University of Cordoba, Argentina
* Baylor University College of Medicine
* Texas Heart Institute, Houston |
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CHAPTER 26
Christmas Concord |
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11:00 A.M, December 21, 1968 |
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SECTION V
SOUVENIRS OF THE OLD DAYS |
CHAPTER 27
Houston, Texas, in the 1960s |
SECTION VI
THE ARCHIVES OF THE MEMORY |
CHAPTER 28
Criticism and Estimate |
CHAPTER 29
Israel |
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Relieving Melancholy of Old Time |
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CHAPTER 30
Chu En-lai |
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The Visionary of Modern China’s Destiny |
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CHAPTER 31
The Anatomy Lesson |
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The Existential two sides of Medical Science |
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| Epilogue |
