[HSF] Amazing adventures of a cardiac surgeon

Tue Jan 29 20:16:58 EST 2008

Resending on behalf of Roberto,

ps did the myxoma mp4 come through?

*Prasanna
*

*Amazing Adventures of a heart surgeon.*  iUniverse, Inc. 2007

By Domingo Liotta, MD (www.fdliotta.org)

Commentary by Dr.UBA Roberto R. Battellini, Herzzentrum Leipzig, Germany

"Any child who plants a tree together with his father can be considered a
fortunate man." "I planted the araucaria with my father when I was eight."
(p. 5) The araucaria, as told to Liotta by Pierre Marion, is the spirit of
longevity in China, a cosmic tree. Liotta is a fortunate man, but it is him
who created his fortune, following the advice he later leaves for the
youngsters in Chapter XXVIII, on which I will not comment so it is read from
the original source. However, it slips off me... without colossal energy and
perseverance like that of the araucaria, nothing is achieved...

Since the description of his Italian father serving as a marine in the
British army in the HMS Irresistible, the book evokes a mysterious power,
and old secrets: his father joined the Argentine army in 1907, after being
born Domingo in a military barracks.

In 2005, our writer, seating in his Buenos Aires residence, closed his eyes,
and in profound reflection, he concentrated on the risky reconstruction of
his soul. After having marched through his career and fighting his fights,
he wants to leave something for the new generations.

The same has been done, both in Argentina and the rest of the world, by
other great cardiovascular surgeons; the first biography I have been able to
read was that of Christian Barnard in 1970, by Curtis Bill Pepper, then,
that of Denton Cooley by Harry Minetree in 1973, followed by
autobiographies, which were much more spontaneous. These included Rene
Favaloro's *Memories of a rural medic *of 1980 and *The Challenging Dream of
Heart Surgery: From the Pampas to Cleveland* of 1992.

Another reason for the book is expressed by the author in page 31: "The
practice of heart surgery is an endeavor performed under pressure, and
surgical cardiac treatments must often be performed in the most hasty and
demanding conditions. Philosophical reasoning provided a wonderful means to
counteract the stresses of my profession. It has been a source for calm,
understanding, and compassion." It is dedicated to young people before being
admitted to university, medicine students, his patients, and also cardiac
surgeons making contributions to humanity.

The book develops three fundamental themes:

*"The philosophical adventure"*, corresponding to Liotta as a philosopher.
(Sections I to III). It is an introduction to the philosophy of knowledge,
dedicated especially to his grandson, who represents every student of
medicine having to start in medical epistemology.

This is about various philosophy sessions in part of philologist Prof. Angel
Battistessa at Dr. Liotta's summer house, following the style of Jostein
Gardner's *Sophie's World* (1994). Battistessa, using the pseudonym of
Inima, takes the part Albert did in *Sophie's World*. This philosophical
adventure also contains a section about ancient Chinese philosophy. Clearly
in love with mystery, and constantly searching for the answer to the eternal
enigma, Liotta writes: "Tao is the way of communication between heaven and
earth." He draws a parallel between Enri Ey and himself, as if their souls
shared the paths of life's mystery.

Liotta is a believer who wants to stay scientific, or a scientist that does
not want to give up believing solely because pure science would lead him to
do so. He is a humanist, fascinated by classic Greek philosophy, from
Heraclitus to Aristotle, as much as he is by St Thomas Aquinas' scholastic,
where he analyzes, through Inima, religious faith. For Liotta, this is the
most powerful weapon in any circumstance. He goes further, analyzing Kant,
especially his moral law, but does not stop there and also goes into
Jasper's and Count Herrman A. Keyserling (who also fascinated me
reading *Adventure
of the Soul*). Liotta does not ignore great thinkers such as Henri Bergson,
Alfred Whitehead and others. In order to avoid being dogmatic, Liotta,
dedicates an interesting chapter to modern scientific atheism, "discussing"
metaphysics with its philosophers, because "truth generally lies in the
coordination of antagonistic opinions." However, Liotta is perhaps more
fascinated, impregnated by his voyages to China; by providing knowledge with
philosophy that is less famous in the Western world: Taoism and
Confucianism. He thinks about them, and I agree, that they could help cure
the modern sickness of pessimism and depression that are sometimes
unavoidable pursuing business and money.

Chapter IV is essential for someone who wants to be wise. Liotta tells us
about mysterious stories, he tries to decipher the poem that is life with
them: sublime is the allegory of the dry tree and the bird (chapter III: "In
Search of Tian Tshi"). Liotta's reference to the neverending column of
Brancusi, a sculpture searching for communication between heaven and earth,
representing the tragic path that threatens human souls, is fascinating. He
asks himself what life really is, what human existence means, what freedom
means. He tries to explore the great sea of existence, recognizing we are
only transitory waves. Everything is vanity, as the Bible says.

In the Epilogue, adding philosophy to science, he asks students not to
praise modern science as the only means of learning the truth. In the dusk
of your lives, the most important thing is having been a Good Person. I have
heard Rene Favaloro say the same, once. In this section, Liotta also
provides an ample description on antique medicine, emphasizing the seven
wise ones of old Greece. Throughout the whole work, we can smell a life
confession, this fascination for mystery that permitted him to overcome
daily difficulties with his patients, what shall be done to make a great
dream come true, what shall be done in adversity?

*Liotta the researcher and surgeon. *(Sections IV and V). Here, aspects of
his 10 years living in the USA are depicted, both as a cardiac surgeon and
as researcher. These are very well commented by Jordan D. Haller and Dr.
Tsung O. Cheng, both on Amazon.com <http://amazon.com/> and
Barnesandnoble.com <http://barnesandnoble.com/>.

The nucleus consists of stories about the implantations of the first clinic
LVAD in the history of medicine on July 7th 1963 by Liotta-Crawford, the
Liotta-De Bakey paracorporal LVAD on May 21st 1966 and later the first
transplant of an all artificial heart, by Cooley-Liotta to patient Karp on
May 4th 1969. For the latter, surgical details are mentioned, as well as
complications arising due to the surgical intervention, with Karp's wife,
and administrative, with Dr. Michael E DeBakey.

It is of interest to stress that the first investigations about that same
topic were initiated by him in Cordoba, Argentina in 1959! Liotta spent many
years behind the shadows of that pair of giants of cardiac surgery, despite
being well recognized in Cooley's autobiography.

Add to that his contributions to surgery of the aorta and the development of
a biological valve made in Argentina we have used many times and that
remains existent in the market, with a different name in the USA, and
competing with the best in the world. He never ceases to mention anecdotes
and names related to the history of modern cardiovascular medicine, such as
Einthoven, Pierre Marion, Dubost, Kolff, Booloki, Zerbini, Lillehei, DeWall,
Cabrol, Crawford, etc. When referring to Einthoven, as he does in more than
one occasion, he also mentions his famous phrase: "Neither what you think
nor I think is the problem; the real important thing is to find the truth in
our dissident thoughts."

As a good apprentice, which is not always the case, he recognizes his
master, but Liotta is loyal to his, Pablo Mirizzi, whom he dedicates a
chapter.

*Voyages and Adventures around the world* as Secretary of Public Health of
Argentina, especially around Greece, Israel, Syria, and China (Section VI).
Don Domingo Liotta is therefore able to say, as Pablo Neruda did in his 1974
autobiography, "I confess I have lived" Both have travelled around the
world, and most fascinating, both went to China in times that seem
impossible. Liotta could have written a whole different book on this. The
details of the incredible story of Chu En-lai, with whom Liotta was able to
maintain conversation, are of international interest, for they helped
establish the services of cardiac surgery in that country after 1973. Of
national political interest are some interesting denunciations about details
of Argentine history he witnessed, for instance the events previous to
Peron's death.

Dr. UBA Roberto R. Battellini

Consultant Herzzentrum Leipzig

Struempelstrasse 39, 04289 Leipzig

Germany

Email: battr at medizin.uni-leipzig.de

On Jan 29, 2008 7:42 PM, Dr. Roberto Battellini <
battr at medizin.uni-leipzig.de> wrote:

> Dear Members,
>
> I finished reading the Book "Amazing adventures of a cardiac surgeon" by
> Domingo Liotta, developer of the first artificial heart, implanted by
> Denton
> Cooley long ago. I wish this review to be published in the Forum. It is a
> nice part of the history of cardiac surgery and of an interesting man and
> witness of those early years. I am sure Bob will enjoy it.
> Roberto Battellini, Leipzig Heartcenter
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Prasanna Simha M