Arthur Vineberg

Surgeon

• Born: May 24, 1903
• Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec
• Died: March 26, 1988
• Place of death: Montreal, Quebec

Contribution: Arthur Vineberg was a Canadian heart surgeon who developed the Vineberg procedure, which is a technique used to correct impaired coronary circulation. This procedure was the first to restore blood flow to the heart and, in turn, increase the amount of oxygen reaching the heart. Vineberg dedicated his life to coronary research and operating procedures.

Early Life and Education

Arthur Martin Vineberg was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1903. He was a third-generation Montreal native, and he attended McGill University and received a master’s of science degree in 1928.

After graduating from McGill, Vineberg studied in Paris and then returned to North America and completed an internship in New York City at Bellevue Hospital from 1928 to 1929. He then moved to Canada and completed a residency at Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal from 1929 to 1933. During this time, Vineberg was also working toward a PhD, which he earned in 1933.

In 1942, Vineberg married Ann Porter Buckley and soon afterward was sent to serve overseas with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps duringWorld War II. He remained with the Corps until the end of the war, and once back in Canada, he began work as a cardiac surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. He was named head of the department of cardiac surgery in 1957.

Surgical Career

Vineberg’s curiosities about coronary artery disease and possible ways to mend diseased areas of the heart began after a wrestling workout in 1927 when he was a student at McGill University. He and fellow student Eric MacNaughton were discussing a lecture they had attended about coronary artery disease. The lecturer stated that coronary artery atherosclerosis, a type of heart disease, mostly affected the surface arteries and branches of the heart while leaving the interior portions disease-free. After further discussion, Vineberg and MacNaughton decided that it should be possible to graft another artery into the healthy heart muscle, and they concluding that the left internal mammary artery would be the best option because of its location.

After serving overseas, Vineberg returned to general practice. He also lectured and conducted research at McGill where he began experimental heart studies on dogs. (Vineberg’s father suffered from heart disease, which in turn compromised his health and quality of life. This renewed Vineberg’s interest in studying the topic that he and Eric MacNaughton had discussed years earlier) Over the course of the next five years, Vineberg performed surgery on more than two hundred dogs and proved that the idea of grafting the left internal mammary artery into the left ventricular wall of the heart was a viable option: The implanted artery remained open in 100 percent of the dogs that Vineberg operated on.

In April 1950, Vineberg performed this procedure on a human patient, and after improving the method and surgical techniques over the course of more than ten thousand additional operations, it would come to be known as the epicardiectomy with free ornamental graft, or , the Vineberg procedure. It was not until 1962, however, that the Vineberg procedure was used on patients with triple coronary artery disease, class-four angina, and chronic left-ventricular failure. In 1966, Vineberg performed the same procedure on the right coronary system on patients who had previously had the procedure performed on the left. The new procedure was known as coronary revascularization, which is the process of restoring oxygen flow and nutrients to the heart by bypassing blockages. By 1967, there was an 80 percent success rate in his procedure.

Awards and Published Works

Vineberg received the Medical Undergraduate Prize from McGill in 1928. In 1967, his film Myocardial Revascularization, Vineberg Procedure was awarded the Golden Eagle from the Council of Non-Theatrical Events. He also received a distinguished service award from the Quebec Heart Foundation and was awarded a fellowship from the American Heart Association. Two years before his death, Vineberg was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, which is Canada’s highest civilian honor.

During his career, Vineberg published over 130 articles and several books, including How to Live with Your Heart: The Family Guide to Heart Health (1975) and Myocardial Revascularization by Arterial/Ventricular Implants (1982).

Vineberg died from pneumonia at the age of eighty-four in March, 1988, at McGill University’s Royal Victoria Hospital, where he had been on staff since 1933.

Bibliography

Bérubé, Brian. “Profiles: Arthur Vineberg.” CMA Journal 125 (15 Nov. 1981): 1176. Print.

Katrapati, P., and J. C. George. “Vineberg Operation: A Review of the Birth and Impact of this Surgical Technique.” Annals of Thoracic Surgery 86.5 (2008): 1713–16. Print.

Saxon, Wolfgang. “Dr. Arthur Vineberg, 84, Surgeon.” New York Times. New York Times Company, 29 Mar. 1988. Web. 26 Aug. 2013.

Shumacker, Harris B. The Evolution of Cardiac Surgery. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1992. Print.

Thomas, J. L. “The Vineberg Legacy: Internal Mammary Artery Implantation from Inception to Obsolescence.” Texas Heart Institute Journal 26.2 (1999): 107–13. Print.

Vineberg, Arthur Martin. The Complete Guide to Heart Health. Montreal: Optimum, 1987. Print.

Vineberg, Arthur Martin. How to Live with your Heart: The Family Guide to Heart Health. New York: Quadrangle, 1975. Print.