The man died at 99 years old still practicing medicine. When asked about his longevity he cited caloric restriction and physical activity.

At age 23, while still in medical school at Tulane University, DeBakey developed the roller pump, the significance of which was not realized until 20 years later when it became an essential component of the heart-lung machine.[10] The pump provided a continuous flow of blood during operations. This, in turn, made open-heart surgery possible.

Debakey's accomplishments read like a general list of medical breakthroughs: In 1953, he performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy as treatment for stroke, and in 1964 he accomplished the first successful coronary artery bypass, using a transplanted leg vein to reroute blood beyond blocked coronary arteries. In 1966, he performed the first successful implantation of a ventricular assist device (VAD), the procedure for which he is likely most remembered.

Years later, teaming with Robert Jarvik, DeBakey created the Jarvik artificial heart, which was first implanted in a human in 1982. And in the 1990s, working with NASA engineers, DeBakey helped develop a heart pump that was so small it could be used in children (the blood flow measurements were taken using a computer that usually modeled rocket-fluid flow).