Historical vignettes concerning cardiopulmonary bypass without homologous blood and perfusion hypothermia.

The development of a predictable means of carrying out CPB employing a nonhemic prime with the potential for performance of the entire cardiac operation devoid of HB and, second, the extraordinary advantage of perfusion hypothermia in establishing conditions permitting a safe period of circulatory arrest are two important components of contemporary perfusion methodology. These advances--and others yet to be--represent a continuum of the vision and accomplishments of John Gibbon who--with his lovely wife, Mary, and distinguished colleagues--made clinical CPB a reality 50 years ago.