Dr. InBae Yoon (July 15, 1936-December 30, 2014) physician and inventor was born in Japanese Occupied Korea (1910-1945). He attended the Yonsei University School of Medicine, earning his medical degree in 1961. From 1961 to 1964, Dr. Yoon served as an officer in the Korean Navy where he spent time on submarines, and became interested in the engineering mechanics of periscopes and their ability to “see.” Throughout his career Dr. Yoon was a prolific inventor of surgical instrumentation, amassing over two-hundred patents.
In 1964, Dr. Yoon participated in a program developed to match Korean medical doctors with U.S. medical schools. Yoon was selected to conduct a general surgical residency at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During his residency, he changed his focus from general surgery to surgical Obstetrics and Gynecology with a strong interest in laparoscopy, more familiarly known today as minimally invasive surgery.
In 1972, Dr. Yoon joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and as Director of the Laparoscopic Sterilization Clinic. From 1972 to 1978, Yoon would develop one of his most significant inventions, a device for sterilizing the human female or male by ligation known as the Falope-Ring®, United States Patent 3,870,048 in 1975.
Laparoscopy or minimally invasive surgery dates from the early twentieth century using endoscopes for diagnosis. By the 1970’s surgical Laparoscopy became practical and more common with the help of fiberoptic endoscopes. Now sixty years later almost all surgical specialties utilize some form of minimally invasive techniques, including Orthopedics, Urology, and, Cardiology.
The impact of Dr. Yoon’s Falope-Ring® to the armamentarium of gynecology is significant. As Yoon was developing the Falope Ring®, the United Nations declared 1974 to be World Population Year. Concerns regarding over population had become a popular political movement in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. The Falope-Ring® not only became common in the United States, but was heavily marketed to third world counties where other forms of birth control such as the use of condoms were considered taboo.
Prior to tubal ligation, sterilization relied on the cauterization of the fallopian tubes. The main drawback to this type of procedure was inadvertent burns by the cautery. Yoon’s Fallope-Ring® procedure proved to be a reliable alternative to other forms of tubal ligation and birth control.
The Laparoscopic silicone ring applicator invented by Dr. In Bae Yoon between 1972 and 1974, was designed to be used with local anesthesia, and as an out-patient procedure. Significantly less carbon dioxide gas was needed for insufflation for easier visualization and access. This Laparoscopic procedure can be accomplished by one or two small punctures, or by a direct vaginal approach.
To begin, the silicone band is picked up with the dilator and placed into the distal end of the applicator. Dr. In Bae Yoon and Theodore M. King, M.D., Ph.D. describe the application of the silicone band in a 1975 publication “A preliminary and Intermediate Report on a New Laparoscopic Tubal Ring Procedure” in The Journal of Reproductive Medicine. (Volume 15, No.2): “this device is fitted with a standard laparoscopic lens system and fiber optic source and consists of two cylinders [one inside the other]. The inner cylinder has within it a grasping forceps for lifting a segment of fallopian tube. The outer surface of the inner cylinder is fitted with a stretched silicone ring…The grasping forceps is exposed as the handle is moved forward. In moving the handle backward, after grasping a segment of fallopian tube, the tube will be drawn into the inner cylinder. Simultaneously with this action the silicone ring will be forced onto the fallopian tube.”
On February 11, 1975 Johns Hopkins Medical School held a news conference to formally announce Dr. Yoon’s Falope-Ring® system. The system was well received catching the attention of national and international newspapers and organizations. More clinical trials commenced with good results, and praise for the system. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had been involved with the development of safe and reliable female sterilization for over a decade. In 1975 USAID established a center at the Johns Hopkins for the training of developing country physicians in laparoscopic procedures.
Dr. Yoon was a strong advocate of physicians and scientists working together in teams to develop new products and procedures. Collaboration was the focus of an article “From Idea to Product” Dr. Yoon wrote in 1999 for the Yonsei Medical Journal. In his article Dr. Yoon encouraged his fellow alumni to do “… work for the purpose of developing new ideas and concepts to carry out practical techniques and procedures in the development of new drugs, devices, instruments and equipment for better quality patient care throughout the world”.
Inscriptions on this surgical set read “U.S.A. HOP. DEPT.” and “H. Hernstein and Son / 393 Broadway, New York.” Hermann Hernstein (1817-) was a German surgical instrument maker who came to the United States in the early 1840s.
Richard N. Sarns was a machinist from Mount Clemens, Mich., who attended the local high school in 1944, spent some time in the Navy, studied at the Lawrence Institute of Technology, worked for the Argus Camera Co., and, in 1960, established his own firm making medical devices. As the University of Michigan Medical School began experimenting with open heart surgery, Sarns helped create the technology needed to keep a patient alive during this process. His company designed and built the heart-lung machines that made it possible to carry out these procedures. He later helped develop filtering machines for kidney dialysis. The University of Michigan later gave Sarns an honorary doctorate of engineering. And the Department of Surgery established a Dick Sarns Innovation Award. In the early 1980s Sarns, Inc. was sold to 3M.
CarlJohn Petry (1938-2000) lived with this artificial aortic valve inside his heart for thirty-one years (1964-1995). The Starr-Edwards artificial heart valve replaced Petry’s damaged natural valve. It was later removed in 1995 when he underwent a heart transplant.
CarlJohn Petry developed rheumatic fever as a teenager which resulted in his natural aortic valve wakening over time. At the age of 26 CarlJohn underwent surgery to replace his natural valve with an artificial Starr-Edwards valve. The donor of the valve Kipp Petry, CarlJohn’s son wrote about his father’s experience as he remembered it as a child. He remembers applying rubbing alcohol to his father’s scar which ran down the length of his chest. Kipp relates “At first I would freak out until Pop’s told me that was his ‘zipper’and putting the rubbing alcohol on it kept it ready for the doctor’s in case they ever needed to ‘unzip’ it.”
Another phenomenon in the early days of heart valve replacement was the noticeable noise caused by the valve as the rubber ball rubbed against the metal cage. “I could hear Pop’s valve”, says Kipp Shuuoop, shzzz, Shuuoop, shzzz<\i> His father replied life making to(o) much noise again<\i>.
In the early 1960’s valve replacement surgery was a relatively new procedure. Today traditional aortic replacement surgery does not necessarily require opening the chest and cracking apart the patients ribs to gain access to the heart. Under the right circumstances artificial heart valves can be implanted with minimally invasive surgery using smaller incisions and negotiating a catheter though the femoral artery to the heart.
CarlJohn's old artificial heart valve is housed in a clear plastic specimen bottle with a white cap. Masking tape on the bottle is marked in black magic marker Carl John Petry/1938 - 2000/ 1964 -1995<\i>. The white cap is marked Happy Birthday 2017<|i>. According to CarlJohn's son Kipp the surgeon or the operating staff presented the patient with the valve. For his Birthday In 2017 Kipp's mother gave him his father's used artificial valve because he was the only one who had shown interest in it. The mark 1938-2000<\i> was probably added sometime after Carl John's death.
The Starr-Edwards ball and cage aortic artificial heart valve Model 1000 has three stainless steel struts, and three stainless steel feet or stops. Inside the metal cage is a silicone rubber poppet or ball. The sewing ring is made of Teflon fabric and contains a silicone rubber insert for flexibility. This 1964 version is a modification of the original four strut model 1000.
Portable cautery transformer made by the Geiger Instrument Company in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a firm that was founded in 1913 and that now trades as Geiger Medical Technologies. It was used by Dr. Joseph T. Salamy (1919-2010), a Lebanese-American physician who received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma, established a family practice, and was a founder of the nonprofit doctor-managed Doctor's Hospital in Tulsa, in 1966.
A trocar is used to withdraw fluid from a body cavity. This is a prototype of a safety trocar designed to prevent internal injury to the patient by concealing the sharp end of the instrument. When the trocar was inserted into the abdominal cavity, an inner sleeve is pressed forward covering the trocar point and shielding interior anatomical structures from being punctured.
In Bae Yoon (1936–2014), a prolific inventor and physician who specialized in gynecologic surgery, was born in South Korea and spent many years in the United States. He held 226 U.S. patents and 22 international patents.
Ref: InBae Yoon, “Safety Puncturing Instrument and Method,” U.S. Patent 4,535,773 (Aug. 20, 1985).
Kyung Joo Yoon, "The Narrow Path that I have Trod," a paper presented and published by the Severance Alumni Association News of Yonsei University in South Korea.
Shiley S-100-A Blood Oxygenator that goes with the Heart Lung Machine (cat. 1994.0366.01) in the collection.
Donald Pearce Shiley (1920-2010) was an engineer with a degree from the University of Portland who worked for Edwards Laboratories, in Orange County, Ca., the first manufacturer of artificial heart-valves. He later established Shiley Labs in the same area. He sold his company to Pfizer in 1979.
Ref: M. F. Roesler, C. Bull, and M. T. Ionescu, “Clinical and Laboratory Evaluation of the Shiley S-100-A oxygenator-heat exchanger,” Cardiovascular Surgery 21 (1980): 271-278.
“Donald P. Shiley dies at 90; co-inventor of Bjork—Shiley heart valve,” Los Angeles Times (Aug. 7, 2010).
