title: The birth of a new era: the introduction of the systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunt for the treatment of cyanotic congenital heart disease.
abstract: Cardiac surgery was revolutionized on November 29, 1944, when Eileen Saxon underwent the first systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunt at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America. The systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunt was initially developed in the laboratory and then applied to patients through the unique collaboration of Vivien Thomas, Alfred Blalock, and Helen B. Taussig. This innovation was the first operation to successfully treat cyanotic cardiac disease. The history of the first operation to successfully treat cyanotic heart disease is an extraordinary history of courage, innovation, and scientific breakthrough. Just as striking is perhaps the ability of the protagonists of this story to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers of racial and gender discrimination and revolutionize medicine.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Luca A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Vricella
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marshall L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Duke E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Cameron
mesh_terms: D001166:Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods*; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000266:history*; D003490:Cyanosis / Q000151:congenital / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000151:congenital / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000601:surgery*