David Sabiston
David Coston Sabiston Jr. was an influential American cardiac surgeon and educator, born on October 4, 1924, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and served as a captain in the US Army Medical Corps, where he specialized in cardiovascular research. Sabiston's notable contributions to cardiac surgery include leading a pioneering surgical operation in 1962 that laid the groundwork for what would evolve into the widely performed coronary bypass surgery.
He later joined Duke University, where he became the head of surgery, implemented significant research initiatives, and was an advocate for integrating diverse patient populations and hiring minority staff in the surgical unit. Known for his rigorous teaching style, he trained over a hundred chief residents, many of whom became successful surgeons. Sabiston authored more than three hundred papers and several influential textbooks, shaping surgical education and practice well into the twenty-first century. He remained a vital figure in the field until his retirement in 1994 and passed away on January 26, 2009. His legacy includes a lasting impact on both cardiac surgery techniques and surgical education worldwide.
David Sabiston
Cardiac surgeon
- Born: October 4, 1924
- Birthplace: Jacksonville, North Carolina
- Died: January 26, 2009
- Place of death: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Also known as: David Coston Sabiston Jr.
Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Johns Hopkins University
Significance: An operation performed by cardiac surgeon David Sabiston in 1962 was an early attempt at coronary bypass surgery. Although the patient later died of a stroke, the techniques pioneered by Sabiston were instrumental in the outcome of the first successful coronary bypass surgery in 1964. Throughout the years that followed, he trained dozens of other surgeons, earning a reputation as a demanding but caring teacher. Sabiston also was the author and editor of several books and journals used to educate several generations of surgeons.
Background
David Coston Sabiston Jr. was born on October 4, 1924, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He was the son of farmers David C. Sabiston Sr. and Frances Marie Jackson. Sabiston attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from where he graduated at the age of nineteen. He then attended medical school at Johns Hopkins University, completing his studies in 1947.
As a captain in the US Army Medical Corps, Sabiston was stationed at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he specialized in cardiovascular medical research. There Sabiston worked with noted coronary physiology expert Donald Gregg. After his two years of military service were finished, Sabiston returned to Johns Hopkins University to complete his residency under the guidance of Alfred Blalock, a renowned cardiac surgeon. Sabiston became an assistant professor in 1953, before spending a year as a Fulbright scholar in University of Oxford's surgical department in 1961. His time at Oxford allowed him to work with Phillip Allison, a well-respected surgeon who specialized in thoracic surgery, and Sir Howard Florey, a Nobel Prize recipient who worked on purifying penicillin.
From the influence of several of his professors, Sabiston developed a strong interest in cardiac medicine. Blalock, his residency director, developed a special procedure to save the lives of so-called "blue babies" born with a heart defect; he also demonstrated that the medical condition known as surgical shock was the result of blood loss. Some of their contemporaries thought that Blalock had handpicked Sabiston to replace him when he retired from Johns Hopkins, although Sabiston never served in that capacity. Sabiston, however, did become an expert in cardiac surgery in his own right.
Life's Work
One of Sabiston's most important contributions to medical science and coronary surgery came early in his career. In 1962, just after his time as a Fulbright scholar, he returned to Johns Hopkins. While there, he led a heart operation that helped to prepare the way for an operation that in the twenty-first century is performed as frequently as half a million times a year in the United States.
On April 4, 1962, Sabiston led a surgical team that performed what is known as an anastomosis (joining) of saphenous vein to right coronary artery. The surgery uses a vein from the leg (saphenous) to provide the connection usually made by the right coronary artery. The procedure became known as coronary bypass surgery because the vein bypasses an artery blocked by plaque to provide a route for blood to flow from the heart. Surgeons had been experimenting with this procedure for a few decades. Sabiston's attempt was considered unsuccessful because the patient suffered a stroke and died three days later. However, the techniques that he used were improvements on older methods. Other surgeons adopted and further improved upon Sabiston's methods, which eventually led to the first successful coronary bypass surgery by Michael E. DeBakey and H. Edward Garrett in 1964.
In 1964, Sabiston left Johns Hopkins to join the surgical department at Duke University, where he became the head of surgery. Sabiston implemented a number of changes while at Duke. He believed research into the factors that influenced the outcome of surgery would improve surgical results and added a team of researchers to work with the surgeons. As the civil rights movement unfolded during the 1960s, Sabiston encouraged the integration of black and white patients. He later lobbied for the hiring of minorities for the surgical unit's staff. He continued to work on groundbreaking surgical research. Some of this research included a greater understanding of why embolisms, or blood clots that block blood vessels, form in the lungs.
Sabiston won several awards for his teaching skills and was known as a tough and demanding but well-respected professor. During his time at Duke, he trained more than one hundred chief residents; nearly two-thirds of them became thoracic surgeons, while the remainder completed their training as general surgeons. He also lectured and served as a visiting professor at numerous learning institutions around the world. A prolific author, Sabiston wrote more than three hundred published papers and thirty-five books, two of which—Surgery of the Chest and Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice—have been reprinted many times and become standards for surgical students and surgeons into the twenty-first century. He also served as editor-in-chief of the surgical journal Annals of Surgery for twenty-seven years.
Sabiston remained at Duke University until his retirement in 1994. He suffered a stroke and died on January 26, 2009, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at the age of eighty-four.
Impact
As a medical pioneer and dedicated teacher, Sabiston had a significant impact on the quality of cardiac surgery. His expertise was recognized both in the United States and worldwide. He served as president of numerous surgical medical societies in the United States and held honorary memberships in several international medical societies. In addition to his influential early coronary bypass surgery attempt, Sabiston helped train the next generation of cardiac surgeons.
Personal Life
Sabiston was married to Agnes Barden Sabiston for more than fifty years. The couple had three daughters, Anne, Agnes, and Sarah.
Bibliography
"Brief Biography." Duke University Medical Center Library, digitaldukemed.mc.duke.edu/sabiston/biography.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Buxton, Brian F., and Sean D. Galvin. "The History of Arterial Revascularization: From Kolesov to Tector and Beyond." Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery, July 2013, www.annalscts.com/article/view/2402/3268. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Chaikhouni, Amer. "The Magnificent Century of Cardiothoracic Surgery." Heart Views, Mar.-May 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2964702. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Chitwood, W. Randolph Jr. "David Coston Sabiston, Jr, MD." CTSNet, 12 Feb. 2009, www.ctsnet.org/article/david-coston-sabiston-jr-md. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
"Footprints through Time: Alfred Blalock (1899–1964)." Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/partners/legacy/l‗colleagues‗blalock.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
"Legendary Surgery Chair David Sabiston Dies." DukeToday, today.duke.edu/2009/01/sabiston1.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Pearce, Jeremy. "David C. Sabiston Jr., Heart Surgeon, Dies at 84." New York Times, 9 Feb. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/us/10sabiston.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
"Sabiston, David Coston (1924–2009)." Royal College of Surgeons Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online, livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E002853b.htm. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.