Mechanical Heart and Lungs - This combined mechanical heart and lung machine, operated here by Jefferson Medical College Technician Joanne Crothers, was used successfully for the first time on a human. The operation, using the machine invented by Dr. John H. Gibbon Jr., professor of surgery at the college, was performed on Cecelia Bavolex, a freshman at Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The machine was used when surgeons closed a whole in the heart of the 18-year-old girl.

Associated Press · [ca. May 1953]

[Information from item housing] Heart + Heart Surgery