One of the earliest successful open-heart operations was performed in 1953 on a young college student in Philadelphia. She survived the operation without major complications and is alive today leading a normal life. In retrospect, while her surgery was simple compared to today's undertakings, it was, at the time, a landmark case. The ability to perform the surgery on that occasion was the result of many years' research work by Dr. John Gibbon, who was greatly assisted by his wife, Mary. Mary later became one of the earliest perfusionists. Dr. Gibbon had originally conceived the idea of a heart-lung machine in 1930, but another twenty-one years were necessary to bring both the concept and additional technology to the stage of development whereby a machine might actually be used as a device for extracorporeal circulation.

Since the decade of the fifties, perfusion equipment and the technology related to it have progressed dramatically. Today it is possible to perform operations that were only dreamed of a few years ago. Some of these include the repair of congenital heart defects in infants, and the transplantation of hearts, heart-lungs, and livers. In addition, equipment is available today to provide support for failing hearts until such time as surgery becomes feasible.

The fields of both medicine and science continue to make great strides. There is every indication that in the coming years perfusion equipment and perfusion science will also continue to expand rapidly. This will provide not only new challenges and opportunities to serve patients but also provide newer responsibilities for the perfusionist who are an integral part of this technology.