R.I.P. Dr. Denton Cooley

[BackInTex]

Famed heart surgeon dies at 96

Dr. Denton Arthur Cooley, legendary founder of the Texas Heart Institute and arguably the most gifted heart surgeon of his time, has died. He was 96.
Over four decades, Cooley performed an estimated 65,000 open-heart surgeries at the institute, drawing patients from around the globe. At one time, his team was handling a tenth of all such operations in the United States.

[Bob Juch]

Assuming reasonable time off, that's 6.5 surgeries per day, wow.

[silverscreenselect]

Assuming reasonable time off, that's 6.5 surgeries per day, wow.

I think this figure has been misreported or misinterpreted. The average heart surgery takes 3-4 hours today and undoubtedly took longer earlier in Cooley's career. It would be extremely difficult for even a fit surgeon in his prime to perform even three a day, considering the demanding nature of the surgery as well as pre-op and post-op time working on the case. My guess is that the figure quoted may be the total amount performed by his team or unit of which he had overall responsibility. He could well have supervised six or more a day, rotating between surgical theaters as needed, but to do all the work himself is another story.

[BackInTex]

Assuming reasonable time off, that's 6.5 surgeries per day, wow.

I think this figure has been misreported or misinterpreted. The average heart surgery takes 3-4 hours today and undoubtedly took longer earlier in Cooley's career. It would be extremely difficult for even a fit surgeon in his prime to perform even three a day, considering the demanding nature of the surgery as well as pre-op and post-op time working on the case. My guess is that the figure quoted may be the total amount performed by his team or unit of which he had overall responsibility. He could well have supervised six or more a day, rotating between surgical theaters as needed, but to do all the work himself is another story.

I'm guess it may be somewhere in what you said. His Team A anesthetizes, cuts open the patient, he comes in, cuts here, sews there, then leaves to the next room to work with Team B while his Team A closes and cleans up. Meanwhile Team C is prepping #3.

That's how our dentist works. We spend 45 minutes with the hygienist while she cleans the teeth, takes the x-rays, and updates the charts. The dentist comes by pokes here, there, then says "looks good, see you next time" and leaves to the next patient.

[Bob78164]

I clicked on this thread expecting to read about the inventor of Dr. Dentons. --Bob