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HOUSTON: Dr Michael DeBakey, the pioneering heart surgeon who shot to fame for his procedures developing bypass surgery, has died at the age of 99.

Internationally acclaimed as the father of modern cardiovascular surgery and considered by many to be the greatest surgeon ever, Dr DeBackey died of “natural causes” last night, according to a written statement issued today by the spokesmen for Baylor Co llege of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital.

DeBakey underwent surgery in February 2006 for a damaged aorta - a procedure he had developed. Medical statesman, chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine and a surgeon at The Methodist Hospital since 1949, Dr DeBakey trained thousands of surgeo ns who now are practising throughout the world.

During his illustrious career spanning over 70 year, he is estimated to have performed more than 60,000 operations. His patients include late American presidents John F Kennedy, Russian President Boris Yeltsin among others.

A pioneer in the development of artificial hearts and heart pumps, Dr DeBakey helped to design dozens of surgical instruments, including the roller pump, part of the heart-lung machine.

Dr DeBakey was born in September 7 1908, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Lebanese immigrants. He got interested in medicine while listening to physicians chat at his father's pharmacy.

Dr DeBakey's first wife, Diana Cooper DeBakey, died of a heart attack in 1972. Three years later, he married a German film actress, Katrin Fehlhaber. She survives, along with their daughter, Olga-Katarina, and two of his four sons from his first marriage , Michael and Dennis.

Two other sons, Ernest and Barry, are dead, a Baylor spokeswoman said. - PTI

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