1896-1996 - A CENTURY OF CARDIAC-SURGERY - REHN,LUDWIG AND THE FIRST SUTURE OF A HEART WOUND

In 1896 Stephen Paget published his book ''Surgery of the Chest'', whe re be affirmed that heart surgery had probably reached the limits of n ature for nay kind of surgery. This statement followed Billroth's who, few years earlier, sustained that the surgeon who attempted a suture of a wound in the heart was sure to loos forever the consideration of his colleagues. However, that very year of 1896 in Frankfurt, Ludwig R ebn succeded in suturing a stab wound of a man's heart. By accomplishi ng this, be not only proved his colleagues wrong, but he made the hear t, center of life and site of the soul, accesible to the surgeon, open ing the way to what is today cardiovascular surgery.