Blalock-Taussig's Surgical Procedure
Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig
Lillian Keigan
Physician Helen Brooke Taussig discovered a surgical procedure for treating "blue babies." She proved that "blue babies" died of insufficient circulation rather than cardiac arrest, as had been previously thought. (NY Times, May 22,1987)
Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig, a Johns Hopkins pediatrician, founder of pediatric cardiology, a co-developer of the first successful ' 'blue baby ' ' operation. Discovered that cyanotic infants, known as "blue-babies" died of insufficient circulation to the lungs, not of cardiac arrest, as had been thought. She and her colleague Dr. Alfred Blalock developed a surgical procedure, the Blalock-Taussig shunt, to correct the problem. Since it was first used in 1944, the Blalock-Taussig shunt has saved the lives of tens of thousands of children. In 1961, numerous birth defects were reported in Germany, Taussig determined that the cause was the use of the drug Thalidomide, and because of her …show more content…
Her reliance on visual examination led her to develop new observational methods that led to a new understanding of pediatric heart problems. She learned how to use fluoroscopy, then a fairly new X-ray technique, and studied congenital malformations of the heart. By using the technique to study the heart from several different angles, she found a connection between certain changes in size and shape of the heart and specific types of birth defects. Eventually, she said, she realized that many died as a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus shut down when it should have stayed open. About the same time, Dr. Robert Gross, a heart surgeon in Boston, developed an operation to close the ductus when it stayed open in other conditions. Dr. Gross told her that it would be possible for someone to devise an operation to build a ductus for blue babies, she returned to Johns Hopkins with that goal in
Lillian Keigan
Physician Helen Brooke Taussig discovered a surgical procedure for treating "blue babies." She proved that "blue babies" died of insufficient circulation rather than cardiac arrest, as had been previously thought. (NY Times, May 22,1987)
Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig, a Johns Hopkins pediatrician, founder of pediatric cardiology, a co-developer of the first successful ' 'blue baby ' ' operation. Discovered that cyanotic infants, known as "blue-babies" died of insufficient circulation to the lungs, not of cardiac arrest, as had been thought. She and her colleague Dr. Alfred Blalock developed a surgical procedure, the Blalock-Taussig shunt, to correct the problem. Since it was first used in 1944, the Blalock-Taussig shunt has saved the lives of tens of thousands of children. In 1961, numerous birth defects were reported in Germany, Taussig determined that the cause was the use of the drug Thalidomide, and because of her …show more content…
Her reliance on visual examination led her to develop new observational methods that led to a new understanding of pediatric heart problems. She learned how to use fluoroscopy, then a fairly new X-ray technique, and studied congenital malformations of the heart. By using the technique to study the heart from several different angles, she found a connection between certain changes in size and shape of the heart and specific types of birth defects. Eventually, she said, she realized that many died as a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus shut down when it should have stayed open. About the same time, Dr. Robert Gross, a heart surgeon in Boston, developed an operation to close the ductus when it stayed open in other conditions. Dr. Gross told her that it would be possible for someone to devise an operation to build a ductus for blue babies, she returned to Johns Hopkins with that goal in