'''Francisco Romero''' was a Spanish physician who became the first successful heart surgeon,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Aris A. |title=Francisco Romero the first heart surgeon |journal=Ann. Thorac. Surg. |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=870–871 |date=September 1997 |pmid=9307502 |doi=10.1016/S0003-4975(97)00760-1}}</ref> on record, by performing an open [[Pericardial window|pericardiostomy]] to treat a [[pericardial effusion]] in 1801. He wasperformed the first in history to perform successful open heart surgery in history.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=9307502 |volume=64 |title=Francisco Romero, the first heart surgeon |date=September 1997 |journal=Ann. Thorac. Surg. |pages=870–1 |last1=Aris |first1=A |issue=3 |doi=10.1016/s0003-4975(97)00760-1}}</ref> According to a lost, but later found, memoir belonging to Romero, he performed at least two successful open pericardial drainages with no deaths.<ref name="Aris1">{{cite journal |url=http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(97)00760-1/pdf |title=Francisco Romero, the First Heart Surgeon |last=Aris |first=Alejandro MD, PhD |publisher=Elsevier Science Inc; The Society of Thoracic Surgeons |date=1997 |journal=The Annals of Thoracic Surgery |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=870–871 |doi=10.1016/s0003-4975(97)00760-1 |pmid=9307502 |accessdate=2014-09-06}}</ref> Also according to his memoir, he performed five open drainages of pleural effusions with success, with one patient dying at 6 months.<ref name="Aris1" /> Romero is credited as the first heart surgeon, since he was the first medical doctor on record to cut into the [[pericardium]], the lining of the heart, on a living patient with a successful outcome.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(97)00760-1/fulltext|doi=10.1016/S0003-4975(97)00760-1|title=Francisco Romero, the First Heart Surgeon|year=1997|last1=Aris|first1=Alejandro|journal=The Annals of Thoracic Surgery|volume=64|issue=3|pages=870–871|pmid=9307502}}</ref>
