Henry Opitek became the first patient to undergo open heart surgery in 1952.

On July 3, 1952, Opitek, a 41-year-old male suffering from shortness of breath, made medical history at Harper University Hospital

Harper University Hospital

Harper University Hospital is one of eight hospitals and institutes that compose the Detroit Medical Center. Harper offers services in a broad range of clinical areas, including cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, organ transplant, plastic surgery, general surgery, bariatric endocrinology and...

 in Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. The Dodrill-GMR

Dodrill-GMR

The Dodrill–GMR machine was the first operational mechanical heart successfully used while performing open heart surgery. It was developed by Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill, a surgeon at Harper University Hospital in Detroit, and General Motors Research....

 heart machine, considered by some to be the first operational mechanical heart was successfully used while performing heart surgery on Opitek. Dr. Forest Dewey Dodrill

Forest Dewey Dodrill

Forest Dewey Dodrill was a doctor at Harper University Hospital at Wayne State University in Michigan.Forest Dewey Dodrill was born on 26 January 1902, in Webster Spring. After receiving a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University in 1925, he attended Harvard Medical School, graduating in...

, a surgeon at Wayne State University’s Harper Hospital in Detroit, used the machine to bypass Opitek’s left ventricle

Left ventricle

The left ventricle is one of four chambers in the human heart. It receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium via the mitral valve, and pumps it into the aorta via the aortic valve.-Shape:...

 for 50 minutes while he opened the patient's left atrium

Left atrium

The left atrium is one of the four chambers in the human heart. It receives oxygenated blood from the pulmonary veins, and pumps it into the left ventricle, via the mitral valve.-Foramen ovale:...

 and worked to repair the mitral valve

Mitral valve

The mitral valve is a dual-flap valve in the heart that lies between the left atrium and the left ventricle...

. In Dodrill’s post operative report he notes, "To our knowledge, this is the first instance of survival of a patient when a mechanical heart mechanism was used to take over the complete body function of maintaining the blood supply of the body while the heart was open and operated on."