René Favaloro

Dr. René Gerónimo Favaloro (July 12, 1923 – July 29, 2000) was an Argentine cardiac surgeon who created the technique for coronary bypass surgery.

In 1967, René Favaloro became the first surgeon to perform a coronary bypass surgery on a patient suffering from Coronary artery disease. This procedure later developed into the most important technology in coronary surgery.

Thoracic surgery

Favaloro got interested in the developments on cardiovascular interventions, and developed an enthusiasm for thoracic surgery. At one visit to La Plata, he met Professor Mainetti, who pointed him in the direction of the Cleveland Clinic. He was also big on owning pets. He loved his dog, Roberto, and Gaga, who were with him for ten years each.

Although in the beginning he had doubts about leaving his profession as a rural physician, he thought that he could make a greater contribution to the community when returning from the United States. With few resources and some rudimentary English, he decided to travel to Cleveland. He first worked as a resident and later on as a member of the surgery team, working with Donald B. Effler, head of cardiovascular surgery, F. Mason Sones, Jr., who was in charge of the Angiography Laboratory and William L. Proudfit, head of the Department of Cardiology.

In the beginning, the major part of his work revolved around valvular and congenital diseases; later on he became interested in other areas. Every day, having hardly finished working in the surgery room, Favaloro would spend hours and hours reviewing coronary angiograms and studying coronary arteries and their relation with the cardiac muscle. The Laboratory of Sones, father of the coronary angiography, had the most important collection of angiograms in the United States.

At the beginning of 1967, Favaloro began to consider the possibility of using the saphenous vein in coronary surgery. He put his ideas in practice for the first time in May of that year. The basic principle was to bypass a diseased (obstructed) segment in a coronary artery in order to deliver blood flow distally. The standardization of this technique, called bypass or myocardial revascularization surgery, was the fundamental work of his career, which ensured that his prestige would transcend the limits of that country, as the procedure radically changed the history of coronary disease. In 1970 he published a book called Surgical Treatment on Coronary Arteriosclerosis, and published it in Spanish with the name Tratamiento Quirúrgico de la Arteriosclerosis Coronaria.

The creation of the Favaloro Foundation

Favaloro enjoys a light moment with his wife, Amelia, and Nobel Laureate Luis Leloir.

In 1971 Favaloro, returned to Argentina with the dream of developing a center of excellence similar to the Cleveland Clinic, that combined medical attention, investigation and education.

Bearing that in mind he founded the Fundación Favaloro in 1975 along with other collaborators. He took great pride in having trained more than 450 residents from all over Argentina and the Americas. Favaloro contributed to raise the standard level of his specialty in benefit of the patients through innumerable courses, seminars and conferences organized by the Fundación, among them the distinguished 'Cardiology for the Consultant' (Cardiología para el Consultante) held every two years.

In 1980 Favaloro established the 'Basic Investigation Laboratory' (Laboratorio de Investigación Básica), which was financed with his own money for a long timespan and which, at the time, depended upon the support of the Investigation and Teaching Department of the Fundación Favaloro. Subsequently it became the Institute of Investigation in Basic Sciences of the University Institute of Biomedical Sciences (Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas del Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Biomédicas) which in turn, was transformed into the Universidad Favaloro in August 1998.

In 1992 the nonprofit Favaloro Foundation Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery (Instituto de Cardiología y Cirugía Cardiovascular de la Fundación Favaloro) opened in Buenos Aires. With the motto "advanced technology at the service of medical humanism", this institute offers highly specialized services of cardiology, cardiovascular surgery and heart, lung, cardiopulmonary, liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants, among other areas. Favaloro focused his career there, surrounded by a selected group of professionals. It should be mentioned that despite the immense costs of bypass surgery, Dr Favaloro operated on indigents on a daily basis, something that he felt was both a necessity and his obligation.

He kept his emphasis in disease prevention and promoting basic rules of hygiene to reduce mortality rate. Bearing that objective in mind the Fundación Favaloro researches for illness detection, and prevention programmes. Also many different publications were made through the Centro Editor de la Fundación Favaloro (Publishing Center of the Favaloro Foundation), which ceased to operate in 2000.

The Favaloro Foundation is currently one of the largest institutions dedicated to cardiology in the Americas.

Death

By the year 2000, Argentina was already submerged in an economic and political crisis, and the Favaloro Foundation was US$ 75 million in debt. Favaloro on repeated occasions petitioned the Argentine government to aid the Foundation, but he never received an official response. On July 29 of that year, Favaloro took the decision of committing suicide by shooting himself in the heart.^[1]

Following his death, it was revealed that he had written a letter to Argentine President Fernando de la Rúa, that had never been read, in which he expressed being tired of "being a beggar in his own country, and asked for De la Rúa's help to raise money to help the Foundation."

Even when his suicide is many times linked to the Foundation’s financial difficulties, the letter clearly shows Favaloro overwhelmed by the corruption of the health system and feeling he can’t fight against this powerful organization. In some parts of the letter, he refers to himself as “Don Quijote” depicting his lonely battle against the giants. Aggravating this situation was the fact that Dr. Favaloro never recovered from the death of his wife, his lifetime companion.

Recognitions and distinctions

Favaloro was an active member of 26 societies, corresponding of 4, and honorary of 43. He received innumerable international distinctions. The ones that stand out are: John Scott Prize 1979, granted by Philadelphia; the creation of the Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery "Dr René G. Favaloro" (Tel Aviv University, Israel, 1980); the distinction of the Fundación Conchita Rábago de Giménez Díaz (Madrid, Spain, 1982); the Teacher Prize of Argentinian Medicine (1986); the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (1987); The Gairdner Foundation International Award, granted by the Gairdner Foundation (Toronto, Canada, 1987); the René Leriche Prize 1989, granted by the International Surgery Society; the Gifted Teacher Award, granted by the American College of Cardiology (1992); the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1993); the Prince Mahidol Prize, granted by His Majesty the King of Thailand (Bangkok, Thailand, 1999).

Favaloro on television

Favaloro also participated in educational programming for the public, distinguishing himself in the television series The great medical themes, and in numerous conferences in Argentina and throughout the world on topics such as medicine, education, and modern society.

Works by Favaloro

René Favaloro published more than three hundred works in his specialty. Owing to his passion for history, he also wrote two books about General José de San Martín.

• Surgical Treatment of Coronary Arteriosclerosis (1970)
• Recuerdos de un médico rural ("Memories of a rural doctor", 1980)
• ¿Conoce usted a San Martín? ("Do you know San Martín?", 1986)
• La Memoria de Guayaquil ("The memory of Guayaquil" 1991)
• De La Pampa a los Estados Unidos ("From La Pampa to the United States", 1993)
• Don Pedro y la Educación ("Don Pedro and education", 1994)

References

• This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 12 March 2005.

1. ^ Krauss, Clifford (August 7, 2000). "Argentina Searches Its Soul Over a Suicide". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/07/world/argentina-searches-its-soul-over-a-suicide.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 15 June 2009. 

External links

• Favaloro Foundation (Spanish) - Spanish-language page about the investigation of the Fundación Favaloro, with a gallery of images, quotes, and an essay on Favaloro's legacy.

www.uottawa.ca/publications/interscientia/inter.3/favaloro/text.html

• Favaloro Foundation (English)
• Favaloro University (Spanish)
• Favaloro University (Wikipedia Article)

Persondata
Name	Favaloro, Rene
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 12, 1923
Place of birth
Date of death	July 29, 2000
Place of death