In 1953, John Gibbon performed the first successful open-heart operation using a heart-lung machine. The device circulated and oxygenated blood outside the body while surgeons worked inside the heart. Anticoagulation was essential because blood in artificial circuits tends to clot.

The first successful open-heart surgery using a heart-lung machine in 1953 transformed the symbolic representation of the heart in literature. Writers began to view the heart not just as a romantic emblem but as a vulnerable organ, prompting explorations of human fragility and the intersection of technology and emotion.