View source for Portal:New Zealand/Selected article/Week 19, 2006

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<!-- Image with questionable fair-use claim removed: [[Image:NZ 1995 stamp Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes.jpg|100px|New Zealand 1995 stamp issue: Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes, heart surgeon.]] -->
</div>'''[[Brian Barratt-Boyes|Sir Brian Gerald Barratt-Boyes]],''' [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]] ([[1924]] - March 8, 2006) was a pioneering [[heart surgery|heart surgeon]] from [[New Zealand]].

In 1956 he pioneered the development of [[cardiopulmonary bypass]] in New Zealand, the first patient being operated on in 1958. While this task must have been made more difficult by New Zealand's relative remoteness and small population, the Greenlane Hospital surgical team quickly achieved an international reputation for innovative excellence. Indeed he suggested that Auckland's isolation conferred an advantage comparable to that enjoyed by the Mayo Clinic in small-town [[Rochester, Minnesota]], making it less likely that day-to-day interruptions would interfere with the real purpose of their work. 

In 1962 he introduced the human cadaveric aortic homograft for [[aortic valve replacement]] and for many years he worked to perfect valve preparation, emphasizing its inherent physiologic advantages and simplifying its surgical implant technique. He and his team's results became the standard for others to match. 
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