Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (10 May 1912, Guaratinguetá, São Paulo - 23 October 1993) was a noted Brazilian physician and foremost cardiac surgeon. He is internationally known for performing in 1968 the first heart transplantation in Latin America (and the third in the world), and for creating the famous and respected clinical and research center Instituto do Coração da Universidade de São Paulo (Heart Institute of the University of São Paulo), in São Paulo, Brazil. May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Guaratinguetá is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. ... The title of this article contains the character ã. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Sao Paulo. ... October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Physician examining a child A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... Surgeon may refer to: a practitioner of surgery the moniker of British electronic music producer and DJ, Anthony Child; see Surgeon (musician) This is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... The University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is one of the three public universities funded by the State of São Paulo. ... The title of this article contains the character ã. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Sao Paulo. ...

Zerbini was the son of an Italian immigrant. He studied medicine at the Medical School of the University of São Paulo, in São Paulo city, graduating on 1935. He specialized in thoracic surgery in the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo under Prof. Alípio Correia Neto and in the following year he accepted a position of instructor at his alma mater. His specialization studies in the field continued in 1944, in the United States. Upon his return to Brazil, he organized a team of heart surgery at the University's teaching hospital (Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo) and became director of the hospital's medical emergency services. His first area of activity in thoracic surgery was in lung operations in tuberculosis patients, but he soon progressed to other areas of cardiovascular surgery. Italian Brazilian (Italian: italiano-brasiliano, Portuguese: ítalo-brasileiro) is an Italian born in Brazil. ... Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining human health or restoring it through the treatment of disease and injury. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... In medicine, the field of (cardio)thoracic surgery is involved in the surgical treatment of diseases affecting the heart (cardiovascular disease) and lungs (lung disease). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Cardiac surgery is surgery on the heart, typically to correct congenital heart disease or the complications of ischaemic heart disease or valve problems caused by endocarditis. ... A Teaching hospital is a hospital which provides medical training. ... A medical emergency is an injury or illness that poses an immediate threat to a persons health or life which requires help from a doctor or hospital. ... The lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. ... Tuberculosis (commonly shortened to TB) is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system (meningitis), lymphatic system, circulatory system (Miliary tuberculosis), genitourinary system, bones and joints. ...

Dr. Zerbini's team advanced considerably the scientific and medical status of heart surgery in Brazil and trained hundreds of surgeons. With other colleagues from the USP hospital, such as prominent Dr. Luciano V. Décourt, in 1975 he founded the Heart Institute, which became the best cardiovascular health center in the country. By means of experimental surgery, Zerbini and his group developed several new surgical techniques, which were then applied in human patients. He was one of the first to work with extracorporeal circulation brain-lung machines (he built his own) and the use of an auxiliary heart transplant for providing assisted circulation, as well as to develop heterologous and homologous artificial heart valves, using dura mater. Other important advances by his group were in the surgery of congenital heart diseases, such as the tetralogy of Fallot, aortic aneurysms, etc. Cardiac surgery is surgery on the heart, typically to correct congenital heart disease or the complications of ischaemic heart disease or valve problems caused by endocarditis. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Extracorporeal circulation refers to pumping of blood in a circuit outside the body. ... An artifical heart valve is a device which is implanted in the heart of patients who suffer from valvular diseases in their heart. ... The dura mater (from the Latin hard mother), or pachymeninx, is the tough and inflexible outermost of the three layers of the meninges surrounding the brain. ... Congenital heart disease is heart disease in the newborn, and includes congenital heart defects, congenital arrythmias, and cardiomyopathies. ... In medicine, the tetralogy of Fallot (described by Etienne Fallot, 1850 - 1911, Marseille) is a significant and complex congenital heart defect. ... An aneurysm (or aneurism) (from Greek ανευρυσμα, a dilatation) is a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel. ...

Zerbini developed also his own approach to heart transplantation, and performed the first one, on May 26th 1968, just five months after the South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard (1922-2001). Unfortunately, the patient survived for 28 days only, but Zerbini persevered with three additional operations until the technique was perfected. All except one died in a short time, due to transplant rejection problems (cyclosporine and other immunosupressants were not available at that time), and Zerbini had to interrupt the operations. In 1985, Dr. Zerbini once again pioneered in the field, by performing the first heart transplantation in a patient with Chagas disease. Today, after the rejection problem was solved, it is a common operation in Brazil, performed in thousands of patients every year. May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Drawing of Barnard on a cover of TIME Christiaan Barnard (November 8, 1922 – September 2, 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon. ... Transplant rejection occurs when the immune system of the recipient of an transplant attacks the transplanted organ or tissue. ... Cyclosporine, Ciclosporin (INN), or cyclosporin (former BAN), is an immunosuppressant drug. ... Immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressants are drugs that are used in immunosuppressive therapy to inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. ... This article is about the year. ...

During his 58 years of professional career, Dr. Zerbini received 125 honour awards, prizes and titles. He participated in 314 medical and scientific conferences, published more than 450 papers (248 thereof indexed in Medline), and performed more than 40,000 operations. He worked indefatigably until a few months before his death, by cancer. MEDLINE is a comprehensive literature database of life sciences and biomedical information. ... When normal cells are damaged beyond repair, they are eliminated by apoptosis. ...

His legacy was preserved by a non-profit medical institution affiliated to the Heart Institute, the Zerbini Foundation. There is also a medical award bearing his name, instituted by the Foundation. He left many disciples, many of whom count among the best and most influential cardiac surgeons in Brazil, such as Dr. Adib Domingos Jatene, a former Ministry of Health, who succeeded Dr. Zerbini as the Heart Institute`s general director.

References

• Ricardo Lima, Fernando A. Lucchese, Domingo M. Braile, Tomas A. Salerno. A tribute to Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini, MD. Ann Thorac Surg 2001;72:1789-1792. PMID 11722101
• de Carvalho VB, Sousa EF, Vila JH, da Silva JP, Caiado MR, Araujo SR, Macruz R, Zerbini EJ. Heart transplantation in Chagas' disease. 10 years after the initial experience. Circulation. 1996 Oct 15;94(8):1815-7. PMID 8873654
• Zerbini EJ. Results of replacement of cardiac valves by homologous dura mater valves. Chest. 1975 Jun;67(6):706-10. PMID 123848
• Barbero Marcial M, Armelin E, Stolf N, Piantino PC, Macruz R, Verginelli G, Zerbini EJ. Assisted circulation with an auxiliary heart transplant. An experimental study. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 1972 May;63(5):696-704. PMID 4554995
• Zerbini EJ, Decourt LV. Experience on three cases of human heart transplantation. Laval Med. 1970 Feb;41(2):149-54. PMID 4929483

External links

• Fundação Zerbini
• Dura mater heart valve invention. (In Portuguese)
• Search for Dr. Zerbini's papers in PubMed