Heart surgeon DeBakey dead at 99

HOUSTON, July 12 (UPI) -- U.S. heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, who pioneered now-common bypass surgery and developed innovative pumps and other devices, has died at 99, officials said.

DeBakey died Friday night of natural causes at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, not far from the Baylor College of Medicine, a once-provincial school that DeBakey helped transform into one of the world's great medical institutions, The Los Angeles Times reported. He had undergone heart surgery of the type he developed there in February 2006.

The newspaper said DeBakey counted numerous world leaders among his patients.

"Dr. DeBakey's reputation brought many people into this institution, and he treated them all: heads of state, entertainers, businessmen and presidents, as well as people with no titles and no means," Ron Girotto, president of Methodist Hospital System, told the Times.

DeBakey was a pioneer in efforts to develop artificial hearts and heart pumps to help patients waiting for transplants, and helped create more than 70 surgical instruments.