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International Practice in Cardiothoracic Surgery pp 3–13Cite as

History of Thoracic Surgery

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Abstract

Ancient man realized that the chest housed the vital organs of the body for severe thoracic wounds were generally fatal. The vulnerability of the heart influenced the followers of primitive religions to consider the heart as the seat of the soul. Around 3000 B.C. the ancient Egyptian priests believed that to enter the kingdom of heaven, the heart must be weighed against the feather of truth[1] (Fig. 1-1). Many centuries would pass before sufficient physiological knowledge would be gained and surgical techniques developed to provide surgeons the necessary skills to fly in the face of age old superstitions and traditions by deliberately operating upon the organs within the chest. Space limitations restrict the amount of material that may be presented.

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References

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Authors
  1. Lyman A. Brewer III
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Medical Center, Beijing, China

    Yingkai Wu MB. ChB. (Professor of Thoracic Surgery) (Professor of Thoracic Surgery)

  2. University of California at San Diego, California, USA

    Richard M. Peters M.D. (Professor of Surgery & Biomedical Engineering) (Professor of Surgery & Biomedical Engineering)

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© 1986 Science Press, Beijing and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Brewer, L.A. (1986). History of Thoracic Surgery. In: Wu, Y., Peters, R.M. (eds) International Practice in Cardiothoracic Surgery. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4259-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4259-2_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8391-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4259-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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