Maimonides Celebrates 100 Years of Surgery

During the last 100 years, Maimonides Medical Center has been a focus of innovation and excellence in surgery. As the medical center marks its centennial year, the Department of Surgery is celebrating this tradition of exceptional patient care, surgical training and leading-edge research.

“The Maimonides Centennial is an opportunity to look back with pride at our department’s remarkable history,” said Dr. Patrick Borgen, Chair of Surgery. “And also to look forward to exciting developments in technology, research and advancements in surgical care.”

Maimonides has been the site of numerous historic achievements in surgery, from the first human heart transplant in the US in 1967, to the first-ever use of closed-circuit television in an operating room for teaching purposes in 1939, to the first robotically-assisted pediatric surgery in 2001. All along the way, Maimonides surgeons set a standard for surgical excellence and pushed the limits of what was considered possible.

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) first accredited the institution in 1923, when it was known as United Israel Zion Hospital. The ACS acknowledged the hospital’s growing expertise in specialized surgery in 1957 when Maimonides was included in the Federal Registry of Cancer Facilities. And in 2009, the ACS conferred on Maimonides an “Excellent Outcomes in General Surgery” award.

Surgical Pioneers
The Department of Surgery at Maimonides has long been renowned for its prestigious roster of surgical specialists—a virtual who’s who of surgical achievement in America over the past century.

In 1945, Dr. Rudolph Nissen became Chief of Surgery. This noted surgical pioneer went on to develop a procedure that prevents gastric acid from refluxing into the esophagus—the Nissen Fundoplication. Dr. Nissen also developed surgical strategies for repairing abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), and was called upon to consult on that condition in legendary physicist Albert Einstein.

Dr. Charles B. Ripstein broke ground on several patented approaches to controlling a patient’s temperature in the 1950s, and was published along with colleagues from virtually every specialty on such diverse topics as pericarditis, gall bladder surgery, postcardiotomy syndrome, peptic ulcers, upper-GI hemorrhage, drug withdrawal and an operation for colon prolapse repair that still bears his name. It was Dr. Ripstein who established the division of Cardiac Surgery at Maimonides, though it would be another decade before heart surgery was recognized nationally as a subspecialty.

Visionary surgeon Adrian Kantrowitz led a team that produced one of the earliest implantable pacemakers (1962), and he was the first US surgeon to implant a partial mechanical heart in 1966. A year later he performed the nation’s first successful human heart transplant, and invented the intra-aortic balloon pump—a device that still saves thousands of lives each year. And in 1972, Dr. Kantrowitz developed the first left-ventricular-assist  device technology that he continued to improve and refine until his death in 2009.

The Modern Era
In 1982, Dr. Joseph Cunningham developed a surgical technique to detect and reduce spinal cord injury during repair of aortic aneurysm. Under Dr. Cunningham’s leadership, an Ambulatory Surgery Unit was created in response to growing evidence that patient outcomes could improve with shorter hospital stays. He also established a division of Laparoscopic Surgery, encouraging less-invasive approaches. Use of the daVinci Surgical Robot was a natural next-step for the department. Maimonides boasted the very first surgical robot in Brooklyn and our surgeons performed the first robotically-assisted pediatric surgical procedure in this country.

“This is an exciting era in the history of surgical practice in the US,” Dr. Borgen explained. “For instance, advances in imaging technology abound, providing surgeons with incredibly detailed and accurate views of surgical anatomy.”

Under Dr. Borgen’s leadership, a new suite of operating rooms has been opened at Maimonides, placing that imaging technology at the fingertips of every surgeon, and providing the most comprehensive training for surgical residents and fellows.

The new Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Maimonides also incorporates the most advanced technology in a highly therapeutic setting atop the newest hospital pavilion with enormous windows bringing in natural light, and providing patients with panoramic views of Brooklyn.