The First Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic of the Henry Dunant Hospital Center (Greece) honored Rosario doctor Federico Benettiwho thus became one of the “Seven wise men of humanity” in cardiovascular surgery. It is an award that was awarded for the first time in history and highlighted the scientific contributions that renowned men made in the world.
The ceremony took place on May 28 at the Ancient Greek Parliament in Athens, the cradle of civilization. In ancient times, Greece recognized the Seven Sages, who were philosophers, statesmen and legislators, such as Bias of Priene, Cleobulus of Lindos, Periander of Corinth, Pittacus of Mytilene, Chilon of Sparta, Solon and Thales. Thus, the Henry Dunant Hospital Center was inspired by that distinction to recognize the contribution of seven of these specialists in cardiovascular medicine in the 1990s.
“It was very strong. It was like going back to the time of the philosophers”the specialist told The capital from Valladolid (Spain), where he continued his journey after staying in Greece.
Evidently the distinction meant a lot to the expert accustomed to countless tributes: throughout the world, rooms, services and operating rooms have his name. “I am even one of the 50 doctors in the world who has a monument in the Hippocratic Foundation on the island of Kos,” he highlighted about the place where Hippocrates, the so-called father of medicine, was born.
World prestige
Benetti obtained 27 invention patents (two in surgical technique, which makes him a unique case on a global level) and made more than 500 presentations and publications in his specialty throughout his career. Among other things, he trained surgeons in 45 countries and was a visiting professor at various universities around the world.
On the other hand, he achieved recognitions such as the R/D from the Chicago Academy of Sciences and Arts for the 100 inventions that modified the lives of human beings.
He performed the first outpatient coronary surgery in the world. He did it in Rosario, at the Benetti Foundation, which he founded. The 76-year-old doctor operated on about 6,000 patients throughout his career.
From Pascanas to Rosario
He was born in Pascanas, Córdoba, on November 29, 1947, but within a year he was living in Rosario, where he completed his primary and secondary studies, and received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Rosario (UNR). Due to the influence of his father, a pioneer of cardiovascular surgery in the country, and who in 1958 performed the first cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation in Argentina, he dedicated himself to heart surgery.
In 1978 he performed the first coronary bypass surgery with a beating heart. (he is considered the father of that intervention) and then developed the technology for the technique now used around the world. Later, in February 1981, he performed the first heart transplant in the interior of the country. It was in Rosario. In 1984 he moved to Buenos Aires. By 1991 he had performed off-pump coronary surgery on 700 patients and established the Benetti Foundation with his own resources.
In 1993 he published the book “Direct coronary surgery without extracorporeal circulation.”
Shortly after, in April 1994, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he successfully performed a coronary bypass or bypass without opening the pleural cavity for the first time in a human being.
He currently carries out fetal cell research around the world and carries out extensive education and care for patients without resources at the headquarters of his foundation in Rosario. He also remains focused on the Mini Opcab technique, which he has been carrying out for 27 years. “In short, I am still busy seeing how the management of coronary heart disease changes,” he stressed to this newspaper.
The other leading experts were Gianni Angelini, who in 1992 was appointed British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Bristol. Also present were Christopher Salerno, a world leader in cardiac surgery and an expert in performing complex surgical interventions on patients suffering from a wide range of cardiac conditions in the United States; and Hisayoshi Suma, from Japan, along with other renowned doctors from the United States, India and Italy.
A few years ago, at a Ted exhibition, Benetti confessed: “When I was a teenager I already knew that I wanted to dedicate myself to cardiovascular medicine. At 14 years old, I didn’t want to be a doctor, I wanted to be a heart surgeon. This was a bit strange, But the only thing I did was constantly think about how to work on the heart. So, I insisted all the time.”
A lover of water skiing in Paraná, when he can stay in the city he continues to practice that sport that helped his friend, doctor John Baldwin from the Methodist Hospital in Houston, United States (something like a Mecca in cardiovascular surgery) to help him refuse to settle there. “When he came to visit me in Rosario to see the off-pump surgery I was doing at the Foundation, I took him to the river to skiand that helped him insist to those who wanted me to leave that I should continue doing that activity in Rosario,” Benetti said nostalgically.
