Biological Oxygenation

Medical illustration, showing connections made using a biological oxygenator (dog lung)

Correspondence, Owen H. Wangensteen to Richard L. Varco regarding selection of patients

Correspondence, Owen Wangensteen to C. Walton Lillehei regarding biological oxygenator

Portrait of Dr. Gilbert S. Campbell

Portrait of Norman Crisp, Jr., Medical Fellow

Correspondence, John J. Kralik to C. Walton Lillehei regarding the use of a dog lung as an oxygenator

Correspondence, C. Walton Lillehei to John J. Kralik, in answer to questions about using a dog lung as an oxygenator

Correspondence, George L. Birnbaum to C. Walton Lillehei asking about the arterialized reservoir and dog lung methods

Correspondence, C. Walton Lillehei to George L. Birnbaum in response regarding arterialized reservoir and dog lung methods

In 1955, surgical instructor Gilbert Campbell and surgical fellow Norman Crisp researched the possibility of using a biological blood oxygenator to maintain circulation during open heart surgery.  The method utilized an excised lobe of a dog lung. A laboratory pump coaxed deoxygenated blood through plastic tubing to a dog lung that was ventilated with oxygen.  Oxygen rich blood was then returned from the lung to the patient.  

A dog lung, or biological oxygenator, was first used successfully on March 23, 1955 on a 13-year-old patient. The operation was the first successful repair of an acquired heart lesion, as the holes in the patient's heart developed as a result of a car accident - the patient was not born with the defects.

Biological oxygenation was used in 14 operations and was abandoned after the invention of a mechanical oxygenating device that further simplified the process of circulation bypass.