Congenital Heart Defects: Early Surgical Correction and Heart Failure– Brief History -

Technological development that allowed for the introduction of extracorporeal circulation devices led to the beginning of open heart surgery. The first heart surgery using an extracorporeal circulation device was performed by Kirklin. Extracorporeal circulation devices had multiple negative effects on the physiology of the infant and the newborn, so that at the beginning of pediatric heart surgery, the delay of surgical correction was preferred. Initially, these devices required an extremely high priming volume that exposed the child to exanguinotransfusion. Inflammation mediators [4] caused excessive vascular permeability and tissue edema, all the more so as the age of the child was younger at the time of surgery.