Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Dickinson W. Richards

  • Cournand and Richards: Pioneers in cardiopulmonary physiology

    Philip R. LiebsonChicago, Illinois, United States During World War I among the allied forces were an artillery lieutenant just out of college and a medical student who acted as an auxiliary battle surgeon because of the high mortality among battalion surgeons. They were, respectively, Dickinson W. Richards, Jr. (1895—1973) and Andre Cournand (1895—1988). Eventually they…

  • Harold James Charles “Jeremy” Swan: The man behind the “sailing catheter”

    Jimmy PhamMichigan, United States “Pressures in the right side of the heart and pulmonary capillary wedge can be obtained by cardiac catheterization without the aid of fluoroscopy . . . The frequency of premature beats was minimal, and no other arrhythmias occurred.”– N Engl J Med, 19701 With these descriptions, a new balloon-tipped catheter was…