Multiple choice general knowledge science & technology

When was the first open heart surgery performed?

  1. 1880

  2. 1893

  3. 1894

  4. 1881
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open heart surgery on July 9, 1893, at Provident Hospital in Chicago. He repaired a stab wound to the pericardium (the sac surrounding the heart) of a patient named James Cornish, who survived and lived for decades afterward.

AI explanation

The first successful open-heart surgery is credited to Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, an African-American surgeon who performed a pericardial repair in 1893 in Chicago, successfully treating a stab wound to the heart. This predates many later advances in cardiac surgery and is a landmark event in medical history.

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