![Heart-Lung Machine](/-/media/Cincinnati-Childrens/Home/about/history/our-history/1950-59/timeline-group/1953-heart-lung-machine.jpg?iar=0&mh=640&mw=960&hash=5172BB7783ECBA268947817332A74F24)
1953
Cure
Cincinnati Children’s researchers Samuel Kaplan, MD, James Helmsworth, MD, and Leland Clark, PhD, developed the first functional heart-lung machine, opening the door to open-heart surgery. Today there are about 500,000 open-heart surgeries performed annually in the U.S. alone — all predicated on this clinical advancement.