Richard L. Varco

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Richard Lynn Varco (born August 14, 1912 in Fairview , Richland County , Montana , USA ; † May 3, 2004 in Halfmoon Bay , British Columbia , Canada ) was an American surgeon .

Varco studied medicine at the University of Minnesota and received his PhD there. He was a member of the faculty from 1943 and stayed there until his retirement. In 1963 he performed the first organ transplant at the university. He was also a co-founder of the Bioengineering Department and was involved in the development of an early implantable drug infusion pump.

In 1953 he carried out the world's first operation against obesity in which a bypass was placed in the intestine and thus food intake was reduced (a forerunner of the later mostly common method of stomach reduction).

On September 2, 1952, he was involved in the first successful open heart surgery with F. John Lewis and Clarence Walton Lillehei at the University of Minnesota. They operated on a five-year-old girl who had a hole in the septum of the heart ( atrial septal defect ). They cut off the blood supply to the heart and cooled the girl down to minimize oxygen consumption, which gave them a ten-minute window for the operation. The team from Lillehei was able to carry out more complex operations with a technique called cross circulation, which at the time avoided the use of a heart-lung machine that was not yet available at the time. Varco was also involved in the first such operation in 1954.

With Lilleihei, Morley Cohen and Herbert E. Warden , he received the Lasker ~ DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award in 1955 .

In retirement he moved to British Columbia (Halfmoon Bay).

Fonts

  • Preoperative dietary management for surgical patients; with special reference to lesions of the stomach and duodenum. in: Surgery. : Volume 19 Number 3. Published by Elsevier Inc., New York, NY, 1946, pp. 303-378.
  • together with Henry Buchwald, Richard Ben Moore: Surgical Treatment of Hyperlipidemia. American Heart Association, New York, NY, 1974
  • with John P. Delaney: Controversy in Surgery. Saunders, Philadelphia, Pa., 1976

literature

  • Who's who in America: Supplement to Who's who, a current biographical reference service. : Volume 16. Marquis-Who's Who., Chicago, Ill., 1954, p. 1729.
  • Obituary: Richard Lynn Varco. in: The Pioneer Press. Northwest Publications, Saint Paul, Minn., May 6, 2004
  • University of Minnesota. Twin Cities Campus Assembly, University of Minnesota. Student Senate: University Senate Minutes, Twin Cities Campus Assembly Minutes, Faculty Senate Minutes, Student Senate Minutes. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2004

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Varco, Richard L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Varco, Richard Lynn (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American surgeon
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Fairview , Richland County , Montana , USA
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 2004
Place of death at Halfmoon Bay , British Columbia , Canada