Passing of renowned cardiovascular surgeon with deep Stanford ties, Dr. Hans Georg Borst

October 11, 2022

The Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery is sad to announce the passing of Hans Georg Borst, MD, who died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 94. An internationally renowned and prominent cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Borst's work produced major contributions to the surgical advancements of thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections, and cardiac transplantation. Dr. Borst's innovative efforts relating to the aorta - including the famous "elephant trunk" technique in thoracic aortic surgery - led to pioneering advances in the field. 

Dr. Borst was born in Munich, Germany, in 1927 as the son of a preeminent pathologist Max Borst at Munich University. Dr. Borst received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1953, followed by a surgical internship at Stanford Medical School in San Francisco the next year. 

Training abroad and at Stanford

Dr. Borst's interest and early training in cardiothoracic surgery can be traced to his father's close connections with Frank Gerbode, MD, a Stanford alumnus who collaborated with the senior Borst before World War II and later went on to have a distinguished career and launch Stanford's cardiovascular surgery program.

The younger Dr. Borst maintained a lifelong relationship with Dr. Gerbode, the first surgeon to perform open heart surgery on the West Coast. Right before the war, Dr. Borst's father even discussed if the younger Borst should return with Dr. Gerbode to the United States to escape the German military draft. Ultimately, that did not happen. In late 1944, Dr. Borst was drafted into the German Luftwaffe at age 18 and put into the paratroopers; however, there was not enough petrol available to fly the planes. Toward the end of the war, Dr. Borst and his unit were captured while fighting the English. Subsequently, he spent six months in a British prisoner of war camp, where he learned English perfectly with a crisp British accent.

The Borst and the Gerbode families maintained close relations after the war, which helped guide the younger Dr. Borst's early choices to become a cardiovascular surgeon. He initially matriculated in medical school at Munich University.

With Dr. Gerbode's backing and assistance, Dr. Borst came to the United States in 1950 to complete his medical school training at Harvard Medical School. In 1953, he got an internship in the Department of Surgery at Stanford Medical School in the old Stanford-Lane Hospital, thanks to the support of Dr. Gerbode, who was on the Stanford surgical faculty. Dr. Borst returned to Harvard for a two-year fellowship in cardio-pulmonary physiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. 

Expanding the field of cardiac surgery

Despite urging from Dr. Gerbode to stay in the United States, where cardiac surgery was on the horizon, Dr. Borst returned to Germany in 1956, and trained under Prof. Rudolf Zenker, MD, at the University of Marburg. His first duties there were to develop and refine a heart-lung machine that could be used for open cardiac surgery in human patients. Dr. Zenker, with Dr. Borst and his team, were among the first to operate successfully on a patient's heart using the heart-lung machine in Germany. Dr. Borst then became a senior surgeon at Munich University. 

In 1968, Dr. Borst was recruited to join the faculty at the new Hannover Medical School (known as Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, abbreviated as MHH in German). Often referred to as the “father of surgery at MHH,” Dr. Borst opened the Center for Surgery and served as the inaugural Chair until 1993. He founded the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at MHH in 1972.

Having been involved in Dr. Zenker's lab running the heart-lung machine, Dr. Borst's expertise with cardiopulmonary bypass helped cardiac surgery flourish at MHH. Dr. Borst first performed heart valve replacements in 1968. In 1983, Dr. Borst and his team performed the first heart transplant at the MHH - the second one in Germany. Under his leadership, Dr. Borst helped position MMH as an important center for cardiovascular surgery and cardiac and transplantation research in Germany, which was the genesis of MHH's international premier reputation. He retired in 1996.

In addition to his clinical contributions to cardiac surgery and transplantations, Dr. Borst was also interested in heart valves, pediatric heart surgery, and coronary surgery. He and his colleagues introduced the so-called "elephant trunk" technique in 1983, a surgical aortic replacement for patients suffering from extensive aortic diseases. This technique aimed to help reduce the complications during the repair of aortic aneurysms by performing a staged procedure.

Worldwide impact on cardiovascular surgery 

Under his editorial leadership, the publication was renamed The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon, published in English, and expanded its content on cardiac surgery. In 1987, Dr. Borst served as the first editor-in-chief of the European Journal for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery until he stepped down in 1994.

Over the years, Dr. Borst authored more than 400 peer-reviewed papers and contributed to nearly 50 published books. He was the first German honorary guest speaker at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery annual meeting in 1985. He delivered his notable lecture entitled "Hands Across the Ocean," emphasizing the need to strengthen the connections between European and American cardiovascular surgeons.

He mentored many residents and surgical fellows, many of whom spent time in the cardiovascular surgery research laboratories at Stanford and subsequently were appointed to leadership and chair positions in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery in Germany and abroad, including his successor at MMH, Prof. Axel Haverich, MD.

He is survived by his wife, Petra Angelika. Borst had four children and nine grandchildren.

Thank you to Drs. D. Craig Miller and Axel Haverich for their contributions to this tribute.