Jeremy Swan
Jeremy Swan (June 1, 1922 - February 7, 2005) was an Irish cardiologist from Sligo who co-invented the Swan-Ganz catheter (widely used in intensive care units). He was educated at Castleknock College and worked as a cardiologist in the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, and later moved to Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. His description of the invention of the catheter is said to have derived from watching the wind playing with sails in Santa Monica. He was present at the Mayo around the time they were performing early open heart surgeries in the mid 1950's. He died from complications following a heart attack. Unfortunately, he also suffered a transient ischemic attack when he presented to a hospital, which progressed to a stroke, thus it is ironic that the inventor of an invasive method of medical assessment could not himself be treated with thrombolytics. While he may have died of a heart attack, he was debilitated for some time due to a completed stroke.
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Other Famous Irish Cardiologists
Other famous cardiologists of Irish descent or connection include: Cheyne-Stokes (John Cheyne and William Stokes described a type of respiration in Dublin, 1854), Peter Kerley from Dundalk(Kerley B Lines), Frank Pantridge of Belfast (invented portable defibrillator).