Adrian Kantrowitz

Adrian Kantrowitz
Born(1918-10-04)October 4, 1918
New York City, New York, United States
DiedNovember 14, 2008(2008-11-14) (aged 90)
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Known forLeft ventricular assist device, heart transplantation
Scientific career
FieldsCardiac surgeon
InstitutionsL.VAD Technology, Inc.

Adrian Kantrowitz (October 4, 1918 – November 14, 2008) was an American cardiac surgeon whose team performed the world's second heart transplant attempt (after Christiaan Barnard)[1] at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York on December 6, 1967.[2][3] The infant lived for only six hours. At a press conference afterwards, Kantrowitz emphasized that he considered the operation to have been a failure.[4]

Kantrowitz also invented the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), a left ventricular assist device (L-VAD), and an early version of the implantable pacemaker.[2]

In 1981, Kantrowitz became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.[5]

  1. ^ A Brief History of Heart Transplantation, Columbia University
  2. ^ a b McRae, Donald (2006). Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart, New York: Penguin (Berkley/Putnam).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Every Second Counts, Donald McRae, pages 215 to 220 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, Dick Cheney, Jonathan Reiner, MD, Liz Cheney, 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "About Us". World Cultural Council. Retrieved November 8, 2016.