In 1945, few would have predicted the sustained worldwide interest in, and profound influence on, the surgical treatment of heart disease that would follow the report of three children operated upon for a cyanotic malformation of the heart. The paper was submitted for publication when the patients were only a few months postoperative, probably leading some critics to question whether the report of success was a little premature. The authors acknowledged and defended the promptness of the report as follows: "The results are sufficiently encouraging to warrant an early report."1
The paper was not a hastily assembled report of a new procedure but included, first, a methodical exposition on the prevailing theories of the mechanism of cyanosis in congenital heart disease, then a step-by-step review of how Dr Taussig developed the concept of surgically increasing the volume of blood to the pulmonary circulation in cyanotic malformations with pulmonary stenosis
McNamara DG. The Blalock-Taussig Operation and Subsequent Progress in Surgical Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases. JAMA. 1984;251(16):2139–2141. doi:10.1001/jama.1984.03340400067026
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