What surgical technique did Dr. Wilfred Bigelow pioneer?

Dr. Wilfred Bigelow is renowned for pioneering the use of hypothermia in heart surgery. This innovative technique involves cooling the body to lower metabolic demands, which provides a safer environment for performing complex surgical procedures on the heart. By inducing hypothermia, surgeons can temporarily reduce the heart's workload and prolong the time that the heart can be safely operated on without blood flow. This breakthrough significantly advanced cardiac surgery and helped improve outcomes for patients undergoing complex heart procedures.

The choice related to anesthesia, while an essential aspect of surgery, was established long before Bigelow's contributions. The development of cardiac pacemakers is also significant in the history of medicine, but that work was attributed to others. Similarly, while kidney transplants are a crucial medical advancement, they are not directly associated with Bigelow's pioneering work.