Francisco Romero

Francisco Romero was a Spanish physician who became the first successful heart surgeon, on record, by performing an open pericardiostomy to treat a pericardial effusion in 1801. He performed the first successful open heart surgery in history. According to a lost, but later found, memoir belonging to Romero, he performed at least two successful open pericardial drainages with no deaths. Also according to his memoir, he performed five open drainages of pleural effusions with success, with one patient dying at 6 months.