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Volume 350:3-4 January 1, 2004 Number 1 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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In 1883, the eminent Viennese surgeon Theodor Billroth declared, "Let no man who hopes to retain the respect of his medical brethren dare to operate on the human heart." Billroth articulated what was at that time common knowledge. The heart was the impenetrable temple of life, the violation of which would result in certain death for the patient. Despite an increasing appreciation and understanding of cardiac pathology, surgery on the heart was an absolute noli me tangere until the middle part of the 20th century.

The heart–lung machine, which maintains perfusion to the body while the heart is stopped during . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

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