Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Jimmy Tam Huy Pham

  • 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…

  • John Brereton Barlow: The “mitral valve” cardiologist

    Jimmy PhamMichigan, United States “To all the students who listen, look, touch and reflect: may they hear, see, feel and comprehend”—John Barlow, Perspectives on the Mitral Valve (1986) Mitral valve prolapse is now recognized as one of the most commonly diagnosed cardiac valvular abnormalities, occurring in 2.4% of the general population using standardized echocardiographic criteria,…