Conversations with Laureates
Michael Ellis DeBakey was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Dr. DeBakey received his Bachelor's and M.D. degrees from Tulane University in New Orleans. He completed his internship at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and his residency in surgery at Charity Hospital, at the University of Strasbourg, France, under Professor René Leriche, and at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, under Professor Martin Kirschner.
Internationally recognized as an ingenious medical inventor and innovator, a gifted and dedicated teacher, a premier surgeon, and an international medical statesman, Dr. DeBakey served as Chancellor of Baylor College of Medicine from 1979 to 1996, as President from 1969 to 1979, and as Chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1948 to 1993. He now serves as the Chancellor Emeritus, Distinguished Service Professor and Olga Keith Wiess Professor of Surgery, and Director of the DeBakey Heart Center, which was established by Baylor in 1985 for research and public education in the prevention and treatment of heart disease.
Professional Background
In 1937, Dr. DeBakey joined the faculty of Tulane University. He volunteered for military service during World War II and was subsequently named Director of the Surgical Consultants' Division in the Surgeon General's Office. He holds the rank of Colonel, Army of the United States (Reserve). For his outstanding military service, he received the Legion of Merit Award in 1945. His work in the Surgeon General's Office led to the development of mobile army surgical hospitals (MASH units). He later helped establish the specialized medical and surgical centers system for treating military personnel returning from the war, which subsequently became the Veterans Administration Medical Center System. One of his important contributions while on active duty during World War II was his proposal of a systematic follow-up of veterans with certain medical histories, which subsequently led to the establishment of the Committee on Veterans Medical Problems of the National Research Council and an extensive Medical Research Program by the Veterans Administration.
After the war, Dr. DeBakey returned to Tulane as Associate Professor of Surgery. In 1948, he accepted the Chairmanship of the Department of Surgery at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston. He initiated the separation of the school from Baylor University in 1969, and was subsequently appointed President of the newly formed Baylor College of Medicine. In 1979, he became Chancellor of the College, and in 1996 he became Chancellor Emeritus.
Scientific Accomplishments
1930s-1940s
While in medical school and actively engaged in medical research, Dr. DeBakey invented the roller pump, which became a major component of the heart-lung machine and thus helped usher in the era of open-heart surgery. The heart-lung machine takes over the function of the heart and lungs while their action is stopped during surgical treatment. Best known for his trailblazing efforts in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, he has devised many new operations, devices, and surgical instruments for the improvement of patient care. With his mentor, Dr. Alton Ochsner, he also was first to link carcinoma of the lung to smoking. For this early work he was awarded the Alton Ochsner Special Recognition Award Relating Smoking and Health.
1950s-1960s
From experience with angiography in his patients with cardiovascular disease, he recognized definite patterns and the segmental nature of vascular disease, an observation that led to effective treatment even though the cause remained obscure. On the basis of recognized anatomicopathologic characteristics of the disease, he classified arterial occlusive disease into atherosclerotic lesions affecting (1) the coronary arteries, (2) the major branches of the aortic arch, (3) the visceral branches of the abdominal aorta, and (4) the terminal abdominal aorta and its major branches. He described and classified the patterns of arterial occlusive disease in all of these major arterial beds as proximal, midproximal, and distal, with the first two patterns being amenable to effective surgical treatment and the last (distal) usually not amenable.
In 1950 to 1953, Dr. DeBakey developed the Dacron and Dacron-velour artificial grafts for replacing diseased arteries, sewing the first Dacron graft on his wife's sewing machine. Later, the grafts were made by a special knitting machine developed with a research associate from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. On January 5, 1953, he performed the first successful removal and graft replacement of a fusiform aneurysm of the thoracic aorta, a swelling caused by a weakness in the arterial wall of the descending aorta in the chest. His Dacron artificial arteries are now used throughout the world in the surgical treatment of diseased vessels.
In 1953, Dr. DeBakey also performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy for the treatment of stroke. In this procedure, the artery is slit open, the lesion peeled away from the arterial wall, and the incision then closed by suturing of the remaining, undamaged walls. This accomplishment showed that a major cause of strokes can be treated effectively.
In 1954, Dr. DeBakey performed the first successful resection and graft replacement of an aneurysm of the distal aortic arch and upper descending thoracic aorta. In that same year, he also performed the first successful resection and graft replacement of an aneurysm of the ascending aorta and the first successful resection of a dissecting aneurysm of the thoracic aorta.
1n 1955, Dr. DeBakey was the first to perform a successful resection with graft replacement of an aneurysm of the thoracoabdominal portion of the aorta between the chest and abdomen. This procedure was done with a graft replacement of the arteries leading from the aorta to the liver, spleen, stomach, gastrointestinal tract, and kidneys.
In 1958, to counteract narrowing of an artery caused by an endarterectomy, Dr. DeBakey performed the first successful patch-graft angioplasty. This procedure involved patching of the slit in the artery from an endarterectomy with a Dacron or vein graft. The patch widens the artery so that when it is closed, the channel of the artery returns to normal size.
1960s
In 1963, Dr. DeBakey developed the fundamental concept of therapy in arterial disease—that is, that in many forms of aortic and arterial disease, because the pathologic process may well be localized with relatively normal patent proximal and distal arterial beds, effective surgical treatment can be applied. For this original contribution, Dr. DeBakey received the prestigious Albert Lasker Clinical Research Award.
In 1964, Dr. DeBakey was the first to perform a successful aortocoronary artery bypass, using the large vein in the leg to bypass the blocked or damaged area between the aorta and coronary arteries—a life-saving operation now used throughout the world.
Since the early 1960s, Dr. DeBakey has been testing artificial heart models to sustain the lives of calves, some of which have lived for months. To date, test results have not warranted permanent implantation in man. He has continued, however, to study ways to eliminate the attendant risk of stroke and the cumbersome nature of current artificial heart devices. He is now collaborating with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration in the development of an axial flow ventricular assist device. This device is able to pump 5 liters per minute against 100 mm Hg pressure and requires less than 10 watts power. It is now being tested in animals.
In 1966, he was the first to use a partial artificial heart—a left ventricular bypass pump—successfully. He conceived the idea of lining a bypass pump and its connections with Dacron velour, a concept he later applied to the Dacron arterial grafts he had developed. The cardiac assistor takes oxygenated blood from the left atrium, one of the chambers of the heart that receives blood from the lungs and body, and pumps it back into circulation by a connection to the aorta or a major artery. His early research with the artificial heart and his testimony before Congress led to Federal support of the artificial heart program. He has been Chairman of the US-USSR artificial heart program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) since its inception.
In 1968, Dr. DeBakey performed the first of 12 heart transplantations during a period of a year and a half. In a historic multiple transplantation procedure that same year, he led a team of surgeons in transplanting the heart, kidneys, and one lung of a donor into four different recipients. Because of rejection problems, the transplantation program was discontinued in early 1970, but was resumed in 1984 following the advent of more effective immunosuppressive drugs and other advances in the procedure.
Recognizing the need for specialized medical centers to handle the large number of wounded servicemen who were brought back to the United States for specialized treatment and rehabilitation, Dr. DeBakey recommended development of highly specialized centers in different parts of the country for treatment of wounded veterans. This, in turn, suggested to him the desirability of applying the Center concept to civilian medicine. The Cardiovascular Research and Training Center, which he established and directed in the Texas Medical Center, was one of the first applications of this concept. This Center was unique in its multidisciplinary approach to cardiovascular research and therapy. As a result of its success, Dr. DeBakey was awarded a federal grant, in January, 1975, to establish the first National Heart and Blood Vessel Research and Demonstration Center.
1970s-1980s
In 1983, Dr. Joseph Melnick and Dr. DeBakey and colleagues reported that evidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common virus infecting a high percentage of people without causing symptoms, was present in the cells comprising the walls of 11 patients with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Cytomegalovirus, which causes cells to multiply, often becomes dormant in the body for years after infection. The study suggested that early in life, cytomegalovirus may initiate the lesions that later cause atherosclerosis. In 1987, Dr. DeBakey and colleagues reported that patients with heart disease have higher-than-normal levels of antibodies to cytomegalovirus. The report supported their earlier finding that cytomegalovirus may play a major role in the development of atherosclerosis.
In another study in 1987, Dr. DeBakey reported that cholesterol levels in 15,000 patients were unrelated to how quickly blockage of major arteries progressed. In another 1,400 patients, all of whom had undergone coronary artery bypass operations, he found that patients with normal or below-normal cholesterol levels were just as prone to have clogging recur in their replacement arteries. Whereas smoking, a high-fat diet, and high blood pressure place persons at higher risk of developing heart disease, these studies imply that they do not, in themselves, cause atherosclerosis.
Other Accomplishments
Because of his unique ability to bring his professional knowledge to bear on public policy, Dr. DeBakey has earned an enviable reputation as a medical statesman. He has served as advisor to almost every President in the past 50 years or so and to heads-of-state throughout the world.
As a member of the Task Force on Medical Services of the Hoover Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government in 1949, Dr. DeBakey led the movement to establish the National Library of Medicine, which is now the world's largest and most prestigious repository of medical archives, housing 3.8 million books, journals, technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, and pictorial materials. He served on the first Board of Regents of the Library and has since been a consultant on many occasions.
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Dr. DeBakey Chairman of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke. As a result of the Commission's recommendation, regional medical libraries were established at strategic geographic sites throughout the country to expedite dissemination of medical information.
Dr. DeBakey has worked tirelessly in numerous capacities to improve the national as well as international standards of health and medical care. As an influential figure in national government, he continues to devote considerable time to national advisory health committees. He has numerous consultative appointments, having served an unprecedented three terms on the National Heart Lung and Blood Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health.
He has not, however, limited his work as a medical statesman to the United States. He has served as a consultant to countries in Europe, the Eastern bloc, and the Middle and Far East, where he has helped establish health-care systems, including cardiovascular surgery programs, in countries throughout the globe, such as England, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Belgium, Spain, Yugoslavia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Jordan, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, and in Australia, New Zealand, and Central and South American countries.
Dr. DeBakey's impressive lifelong scholarship is reflected in more than 1,600 medical articles, chapters, and books he has published on various aspects of surgery, medicine, health, medical research, and medical education, as well as ethical, socioeconomic, and philosophic discussions in these fields. Many of these are now considered classics. He has written or edited many books, including The Blood Bank and the Technique and Therapeutics of Transfusions, Battle Casualties, Vascular Surgery in World War II, Christopher's Minor Surgery, Cold Injury, Buerger's Disease, Advances in Cardiac Valves, and Factors Influencing the Course of Myocardial Ischemia. In addition to his scholarly writings, he is a co-author of The Living Heart, published in 1977, a layman's guide to the heart and heart disease, and of The Living Heart Diet, published in 1984 )which was on The New York Times Best Sellers list), The Living Heart Brand Name Shopper's Guide in 1993, the Living Heart Guide to Eating Out in 1993, the widely acclaimed The New Living Heart Diet in 1996, and The New Living Heart in 1997.
Dr. DeBakey is a founder and the first Editor of the Journal of Vascular Surgery. He was Editor of the Year Book of General Surgery for 14 years, and has served, or is serving, on the Editorial Boards of numerous eminent medical and surgical journals, including the Annals of Surgery, Surgery, the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery, Circulation, Journal of Vascular Surgery, Postgraduate Medicine, Contemporary Surgery, Comprehensive Therapy, Evaluation and the Health Professions, The Yearbook of Surgery, Family Circle, and The DeBakey Health Letter.
Honors and Awards
Dr. DeBakey has received more than 50 honorary degrees from prestigious colleges and universities, as well as innumerable awards from educational institutions, professional and civic organizations, and governments throughout the world. In 1969, President Johnson bestowed on him the highest honor a United States citizen can receive, the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Science. See his CV for a complete list of Dr. DeBakey's honors and awards.
Time magazine featured Dr. DeBakey's pioneering work and innovations in cardiovascular surgery and the artificial heart as its cover story on May 28, 1965. His achievements were also cited in Time Books' Great Events of the Twentieth Century (1999).
Dr. DeBakey is a member of numerous distinguished medical societies, having served as President of many of these. He has been named an honorary member of many foreign medical societies, including the Royal Societies of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia.
Dr. DeBakey has been an extremely active surgeon and teacher. He has performed more than 60,000 cardiovascular procedures and has trained thousands of surgeons who practice throughout the world, many now as heads of their own departments of surgery. He has operated on heads of state, princes, and celebrities, as well as paupers, and applies the same exacting surgical technique and compassion to all. He takes a personal interest in his patients and their families and conducts a voluminous correspondence with patients, students, colleagues, and others from throughout the world who write to him.
In 1976, in recognition of his dedication to the training of young physicians, his students from throughout the world founded the Michael E. DeBakey International Cardiovascular Surgical Society, later named the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Society. The organization, comprised primarily of his former students and residents, conducts international medical symposia and confers the Michael E. DeBakey Award biennially. In appreciation of his untiring pedagogic and investigative efforts, the Trustees of Baylor College of Medicine established the Michael E. DeBakey Center for Biomedical Education and Research in 1978.
In 1982, the Michael E. DeBakey Lectureship was also established by the Pharmacology Department at Baylor in honor of Dr. DeBakey. The Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Surgery was renamed The Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery in 1999. A number of scholarships and fellowships have also been established by him or in his honor, including the Michael E. DeBakey Scholar Award at Baylor College of Medicine, the DeBakey Medical Foundation Biomedical Research and Academic Medical Scholarship, the Michael E. DeBakey Presidential Excellence Award, the Michael E. DeBakey Scholar Award at the University of Missouri Medical School in Columbia, and the Michael E. DeBakey International Military Surgeons Award of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
The Michael E. DeBakey Heart Institute of the Kenosha Hospital & Medical Center, in Wisconsin, was established in tribute to his pioneering efforts in cardiovascular surgery. In 1999, the Hays Medical Center of Hays, Kansas, opened the Michael E. DeBakey Heart Institute of Kansas. Texas A&M University recently established the Michael E. DeBakey Institute for Comparative Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices. Also named in his honor are the Michael E. DeBakey Auditorium at the University of Strasbourg, the Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine, the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Chair at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the American Institute of Architects Michael E. DeBakey Award for Contribution to America's Health, the Michael DeBakey Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the International Health and Medical Film Festival's Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Award for Excellence in Educational Films, and the Michael E. DeBakey Medical Center of The Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon.
In 1992, Dr. DeBakey was introduced into the Academy of Athens, a society of scholars founded by the Greek philosopher Plato. Although membership is generally restricted to Greeks who have made exceptional contributions to the arts, science, or literature, an exception was made in Dr. DeBakey's case, as it was for Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill, in view of their extraordinary achievements.
In May 1978, a 300 lb. bronze bust of Dr. DeBakey, commissioned by King Leopold and Princess Lilian of Belgium and sculpted by the late George Muguet of Paris, was unveiled. At the ceremony, Princess Lilian said, "He has provided national and international leadership in fighting cardiovascular disease, and this bust will be a symbol of hope and encouragement to all who come here." The bust stands in the lobby of The Methodist Hospital in Houston.
Recognizing the need to attract young people, including minority students, to the health professions early in their schooling and to provide them with a strong academic foundation, Dr. DeBakey, as President of Baylor College of Medicine in 1972, became the driving force behind the establishment of the High School for the Health Professions of the Houston Independent School District. He has remained one of the strongest supporters of the School, whose enrollment has grown from 45 to more than 720 of Houston's most promising secondary school students. In 1996, the Harris County Independent School District renamed the School for the Health Professions the Michael E. DeBakey High School for the Health Professions. Dr. DeBakey also established the Michael E. DeBakey Summer Surgery Program in the Baylor Department of Surgery to give premedical students an opportunity to get some practical experience in medicine.
Dr. DeBakey's keen intellect, professional ingenuity, personal integrity, and selfless devotion to the service of humanity have made him a true legend in his own time.
Selected Contributions (Firsts) of Dr. Michael E. DeBakey to Medical Science
1. Development of the roller pump universally used in the heart-lung machine—1932
DeBakey, Michael E.: A simple continuous-flow blood transfusion instrument. New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal 87:386-389, December, 1934.
Miller, Barnard J., Gibbon, John H., Jr., and Gibbon, Mary H.: Recent advances in the development of a mechanical heart and lung apparatus. Annals of Surgery 134:694-708, October, 1951.
2. Observation of association of carcinoma of the lung and smoking—1939
Ochsner, Alton and DeBakey, Michael E.: Primary pulmonary malignancy: Treatment by total pneumonectomy; analysis of 79 collected cases and presentation of 7 personal cases. Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics 68:435-451, February 15, 1939.
Ochsner, Alton and DeBakey, Michael E.: Carcinoma of the Lung. Archives of Surgery 42:209-258, February, 1941.
Ochsner, Alton, Dixon, J. Leonard, and DeBakey, Michael E.: Primary bronchiogenic carcinoma: An analysis of 190 cases, 58 of which were successfully treated by pneumonectomy, with a review of the literature. Clinics 3(5):1187-1245, February, 1945.
Ochsner, Alton, Dixon, J. Leonard, and DeBakey, Michael E.: Primary bronchiogenic carcinoma. Diseases of the Chest 11(2):3-35, March-April, 1945.
DeBakey, Michael E.: The problem of carcinoma of the lung. The American Surgeon 19(1):1-8, January, 1953.
3. Development of Dacron artificial arteries and Dacron-velour arteries as a surgical replacement of diseased arteries now used throughout the world—1953
DeBakey, Michael E., Cooley, Denton A., Crawford, E. Stanley, and Morris, George C., Jr.: Clinical application of a new flexible knitted Dacron arterial substitute. The American Surgeon 24:862-869, December, 1958.
4. First successful resection and graft replacement of fusiform aneurysm of descending thoracic aorta—January 3, 1953
DeBakey, Michael E. and Cooley, Denton A.: Successful resection of aneurysm of thoracic aorta and replacement by graft. The Journal of the American Medical Association 152:673-676, June 20, 1953.
5. First successful carotid endarterectomy for cerebrovascular insufficiency—August 7, 1953
DeBakey, Michael E.: Successful carotid endarterectomy for cerebrovascular insufficiency: Nineteen-year follow-up. The Journal of the American Medical Association 233:1083-1085, September 8, 1975.
6. First successful resection and graft replacement of aneurysm of distal aortic arch—February 5, 1954
DeBakey, Michael E. and Cooley, Denton A.: Successful resection of aneurysm of distal aortic arch and replacement by graft. Journal of the American Medical Association 155:1398-1403, August 14, 1954.
7. First successful resection of dissecting aneurysm of thoracic aorta—July 7, 1954
DeBakey, Michael E., Cooley, Denton A., and Creech, Oscar, Jr.: Surgical considerations of dissecting aneurysms of the aorta. Annals of Surgery 142:586-612, October, 1955.
DeBakey, Michael E., McCollum, Charles H., Crawford, E. Stanley, Morris, G.C., Jr., Howell, Jimmy, Noon, George P., and Lawrie, Gerald: Dissection and dissecting aneurysms of the aorta: Twenty-year follow-up of five hundred twenty-seven patients treated surgically. Surgery 92:1118-1134, December, 1982.
8. First successful resection of aneurysm of thoracoabdominal aorta with replacement by graft including celiac, superior mesenteric, and both renal arteries—October 19, 1955
DeBakey, Michael E., Creech, Oscar, Jr., and Morris, George C., Jr.: Aneurysm of thoracoabdominal aorta involving the celiac, superior mesenteric, and renal arteries. Report of four cases treated by resection and homograft replacement. Annals of Surgery 144:549-573, October, 1956.
9. First successful resection and graft replacement of aneurysm of ascending aorta—August 24, 1956
Cooley, Denton A. and DeBakey, Michael E.: Resection of entire ascending aorta in fusiform aneurysm using cardiac bypass. Journal of the American Medical Association 162:1158-1159, November 17, 1956.
10. First successful resection with graft replacement of fusiform aneurysm of entire aortic arch—March 21, 1957
DeBakey, Michael E., Crawford, E. Stanley, Cooley, Denton A., and Morris, George C., Jr.: Successful resection of fusiform aneurysm of aortic arch with replacement by homograft. Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics 105:657-664, December, 1957.
11. Development of first successful patch-graft angioplasty—1958
DeBakey, M.E., Crawford, E.S., Morris, G.C., Jr., and Cooley, D.A.: Patch graft angioplasty in vascular surgery. Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 3:106-141, April, 1962.
12. Development of the fundamental concept in therapy in arterial disease, that is, that in many forms of aortic and arterial disease, the pathologic process may be well localized, with relatively normal patent proximal and distal arterial beds, thus permitting application of effective surgical treatment—1963
DeBakey, Michael E.: Some observations on the localizing patterns of arteriosclerosis. Chicago Medical Society Bulletin 63:487-490, December 31, 1960.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Basic concepts of therapy in arterial disease (Citation and Acceptance of Albert Lasker Clinical Research Award appended). Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 39:704-749, November, 1963.
Program brochure for 1963 Albert Lasker Medical Research Award.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Patterns of atherosclerosis and rates of progression. In Atherosclerosis Reviews, Paoletti, R. and Gotto, A.M., Jr. (eds.), New York, Raven Press, 1978, vol. 3, pp. 1-56.
DeBakey, Michael E., Lawrie, Gerald M., and Glaeser, Donald H.: Patterns of atherosclerosis and their surgical significance. Annals of Surgery 201:115-131, February, 1985.
13. First successful aortocoronary bypass with autogenous saphenous vein graft—November 23, 1964
Garrett, H. Edward, Dennis, Edward W., and DeBakey, Michael E.: Aortocoronary bypass with saphenous vein graft: Seven-year follow-up. Journal of the American Medical Association 223:792-794, February 12, 1973.
14. First telemedicine program—May 2, 1965 Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, of Baylor College of Medicine, performed open-heart surgery at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, for removal and replacement of a defective aortic valve with an artificial prosthesis. The telecast was beamed by the intercontinental communications satellite, Early Bird, to representatives of the Geneva University Medical Faculty, the World Health Organization, and others, who watched from the amphitheatre of the Cantonal Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, while Dr. DeBakey explained the procedure in English and French.
15. Development of left ventricular bypass pump for cardiac assistance and first successful clinical application—August 8, 1966
DeBakey, Michael E.: Richerche per uncuore artificiale. In Enciclopedia della Scienza e della Tecnica, Scienza & Tecnica, 1969, Section 2, Health: Social Aspects of Progress in Therapy, Part 9, Macorini, Edgardo and Mondadori, Arnoldo, (eds.), Milan, Italy, 1968, pp. 153-160.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Indirizzi attuali nel programma del cuore artificiale. Gazzetta Sanitaria 39(7-8):313-323, 1968.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Current directions in the artificial heart program. Gazzetta Sanitaria (English Edition) 18(1):3-13, 1969.
DeBakey, Michael E., Hall, C. William, Hellums, J. David, O'Bannon, William, Bourland, Hardy, Feldman, Louis, Wieting, David, Calvin, Sam, Smith, Polk, and Anderson, Suzanne: Orthotopic cardiac prosthesis: Preliminary experiments in animals with biventricular artificial heart. Cardiovascular Research Center Bulletin 7:127-142, April-June, 1969.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Editorial Note. In The Year Book of General Surgery, Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1970, p. 72.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Left ventricular bypass pump for cardiac assistance. American Journal of Cardiology 27:3-11, January, 1971.
DeBakey, Michael E.: The development of vascular surgery. American Journal of Surgery 137:697-738, June, 1979.
DeBakey, Michael E.: Human cardiac transplantation. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 55:446-451, March, 1968.