Milestones in surgery for congenital heart diseases

Milestones in surgery for congenital heart diseases

Ligation of patent ductus arteriosus in a seven and a half year old girl: Robert Gross, 1938, Boston [Gross RE, Hubbard JP. Surgical ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus: report of first successful case. JAMA 1939;112:729-31] This landmark article was republished in 1984 [Gross RE, Hubbard JP. Landmark article Feb 25, 1939: Surgical ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus. Report of first successful case. By Robert E. Gross and John P. Hubbard. JAMA. 1984 Mar 2;251(9):1201-2]. Old term for PDA was ductus arteriosus Botalli persistens. Ligament of Botalli was the name for ligamentum arteriosum.

Surgical correction of aortic coarctation: Clarence Crafoord [Crafoord C, Nylin G. Congenital coarctation of the aorta and its surgical treatment. J Thorac Surg 1945;14:347-61]. Surgery was done in October 1944 for two patients and follow up done in March 1945. Both patients were in excellent condition with blood pressure in lower limbs higher than in upper limbs. 

Left subclavian artery to the ipsilateral pulmonary artery anastomosis in cyanotic patients with pulmonary stenosis or atresia (Blalock-Taussig shunt): Idea was conceived by Helen B Taussig and surgery done by Alfred Blalock [Blalock A et al. Surgical treatment of malformations of the heart in which there is pulmonary stenosis or pulmonary atresia. JAMA 1945;128:189-202]. This landmark article was also republished in 1984 [Blalock A, Taussig HB. Landmark article May 19, 1945: The surgical treatment of malformations of the heart in which there is pulmonary stenosis or pulmonary atresia. By Alfred Blalock and Helen B. Taussig. JAMA. 1984 Apr 27;251(16):2123-38].

Surgical pulmonary valvotomy (closed heart procedure) for pulmonary stenosis: Richard Brock [Brock RC. Pulmonary valvulotomy for the relief of congenital pulmonary stenosis; report of three cases. Br Med J. 1948 Jun 12;1(4562):1121-6]. The first patient was operated in February 1948.

Heart lung machine for extracorporeal circulation, used for open heart surgery: Gibbon [Kirklin JW et al. Intracardiac surgery with the aid of a mechanical pump-oxygenator system (Gibbon-type): report of eight cases. Proc Staff Meet Mayo Clin 1955;30:201-6].

Surgery for tetralogy of Fallot [Kirklin JW et al. Factors affecting survival after open operation for tetralogy of Fallot. Ann Surg 1960;152:485]. This was a report of their experience of open intracardiac repair of 110 cases of tetralogy of Fallot during 1958 and 1959. Survival was 91% in that series. 176 patients had been operated between 1955-1959.

Atrial based physiological correction of transposition of the great vessels [Mustard WT. Successful two-stage correction of transposition of the great vessels. Surgery 1964;55:469-72].

Right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit as a repair for truncus arteriosus [Rastelli GC et al. Homograft of ascending aorta and aortic valve as a right ventricular outflow: an experimental approach to the repair of truncus arteriosus. Arch Surg 1967;95:698-708]

Fontan repair for tricuspid atresia [Fontan F et al. Surgical repair of tricuspid atresia. Thorax 1971;26:240-8]

Arterial switch operation for transposition of great arteries [Jatene AD et al. Anatomic correction of transposition of the great vessels. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1976;72:364-70]

Cerebral protection by hypothermia [Barratt-Boyes BG et al. Primary repair of tetralogy of Fallot in infancy using profound hypothermia with circulatory arrest and limited cardiopulmonary bypass. Ann Surg 1973;178: 406-11]

Surgical correction of aortic atresia: Norwood, 1981. [Norwood WI et al. Experience with operations for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1981;81:239-44]

First successful cardiac transplantation in newborns: Loma Linda University Medical Center – 1985 [Fricker FJ et al. Experience with heart transplantation in children. Pediatrics 1987;79:138-46]