HOUSTON – Say goodbye to part of Houston's rich medical history.
Houston Methodist Hospital is closing down its Fondren-Brown operating rooms.
The ORs have seen nearly 50 years' worth of medical breakthroughs performed by legendary and ground-breaking surgeons like Dr. Michael DeBakey.
The closure is ushering in a new era with new operating rooms at Houston Methodist's new Walter Tower.
The new patient facility will feature 366 beds and 18 high-tech operating rooms.
PHOTOS: Dr. Michael DeBakey in surgery at Fondren-Brown operating rooms
DeBakey With Sewing Machine 1950s
More on the historic Fondren-Brown ORs, according to the hospital: "DeBakey, along with Dr. George Noon, performed the world's first multi-organ transplant, the first coronary artery bypass, the first Dacron graft procedures after Dr. DeBakey sewed the first one on his wife's sewing machine, Dr. Michael Reardon performed the first successful autotransplant for cardiac malignancy, surgeons performed the first heart/lung transplant in Texas, the first patient in the United States was implanted with the MicroMed DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device, the nation's first percutaneous implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), Drs. Alan Lumsden and Reardon performed the first hybrid procedure in the United States to repair a large aneurysm of the aortic arch and where Dr. Gerald Lawrie was the first in the world to perform an "American Correction" mitral valve repair using a surgical robot."