Event 1 The Cardiac Dance: The Spirals of Life

This week I had the opportunity to attend The Cardiac Dance: The Spirals of Life by Dr. Gerald Buckberg on campus on Wednesday, October 9^th. Dr. Buckberg spoke about his new surgical approach for congestive heart failure. He has combined the worlds of science and art and has depicted his surgical approach with a visual aid known as the cardiac dance. The cardiac dance is a one act ballet that depicts the “spirals of life” or the natural pulsations of the heart muscles. Dr. Buckberg’s revolutionary idea shows the twisting and pulsating rhythms of the human heart in motion through dance, music and multimedia.

The Cardiac Dance

His new surgical procedure is based on the idea that the natural pulsations of the heart are not what scientists have originally thought. He uses the ballet dancers to depict the motions of the heart muscle. Dr. Buckberg’s thinking was inspired by French philosopher, scientist, and surgeon, Dr. Francisco (Paco) Torrent-Guasp who taught him how the heart muscle can be compared to the shape of a string. The shape includes one wrap and then a spiral looking similar to a figure eight. In the world of science the heart muscle is always show as a four vesicle model with muscle surrounding each of the vesicles. It is most commonly depicted on a vertical plane.

Congestive heart failure changes the shape of the heart muscle from a healthy “football” style shape to an unhealthy spherical shape. When the heart muscles shape changes, the heart muscle begins to fail. Dr. Buckberg’s new surgical approach would physically change the shape of a heart in congestive failure back to its “football” shape.

This new approach is not fully accepted in the world of cardiac surgery. Dr. Buckberg even stated that when he first learned of it from Dr. Torrent Guasp he was not convinced. Before taking this class I thought that there was no way that science and art could be combined. A quote by Dr. Buckberg helped me to realize I need to keep an open mind when he said, “Don’t be afraid to let somebody prove you wrong. You need to keep an open mind. If you pull back on new ideas you will simply be passed over.”