Gordon Edyvean Heard
BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l204 (Published 14 January 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;364:l204- Malcolm H Wheeler
The art and science of surgery were never more effectively demonstrated than as seen in the clinical practice of the Cardiff vascular surgeon, Gordon Edyvean Heard. In the 1960s vascular surgery was still in the early stages of development. The major arteries of the body can be diseased with atherosclerosis and other intrinsic defects resulting in dilatation (aneurysm) or blockage. Unblocking and repair or replacement of arteries became possible with the development of new surgical techniques and the development of methods for replacing damaged blood vessels.
Rupture of an aneurysm of the major aortic artery, either in the chest or, more commonly, in the abdomen, is a life threatening emergency requiring prompt surgical intervention. In the UK, one in 25 men between the ages of 65 and 75 have an abdominal aortic aneurysm, with rupture causing 6000 deaths each year.
Heard was at the forefront of the development of this new vascular surgical specialty. He brought to it great surgical expertise for those patients who came to Cardiff, but he recognised that in the large, sparsely populated area of Wales there needed to be immediately available local services. Every hospital in Wales could not have a dedicated vascular surgeon but he ensured that in every major district there was a general surgeon whom he had trained to provide immediate and lifesaving care. There is no doubt that many patients throughout the principality owed their lives to Gordon Heard’s superb teaching and training of junior staff.
Gordon Heard was born on 23 February 1926 in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, the second son of a geologist at Cardiff University. Several particular events in his life may have been influential in his determination and ability to become a surgeon. In 1939, at the age of 13 and at the outbreak of the war, he became …
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