Abstract
The evolution of heart surgery has been difficult and has spread over centuries. Yet only within the past twenty years have congenital abnormalities of the great vessels been successfully treated surgically. Except for traumatic lesions of the heart, significant sustained progress in the treatment of acquired intracardiac disease waited until 1948. | It has been long recognized that the curative surgical treatment of certain intracardiac lesions requires the temporary functional exclusion of the cardiopulmonary system by a mechanical apparatus. The ability to carry out definitive reparative procedures inside the heart under direct vision has removed the barrier for many intracardiac lesions previously considered inoperable. Only extracorporeal circulation affords the development of techniques of cardiac surgery for the repair of certain congenital and acquired anomalies.