Helen Taussig and Alfred Blalock

Question 1

Who is Dr. Helen Taussig and why is she famous?

Answer 1

• She was the first woman president of the American Heart Association (1965) and the founder of PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY for her innovative work on “BLUE BABY” syndrome.
• In 1944, Taussig, surgeon Alfred Blalock, and surgical technician Vivien Thomas developed an operation to correct the congenital heart defect that causes the syndrome. Since then, their operation has prolonged thousands of lives, and is considered a key step in the development of adult open heart surgery the following decade.
• Dr. Taussig also helped to avert a thalidomide birth defect crisis in the United States, testifying to the Food and Drug Administration on the terrible effects the drug had caused in Europe.

Question 2

What major achievement did Helen Taussig receive in 1964?

Answer 2

• the medal of freedom from president Lyndon Johnson.

Question 3

What medical school did Dr. Helen Taussig attend?

Answer 3

• after studying at Harvard Medical School and Boston University she transferred to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to pursue her interest in cardiac research.

Question 4

What happened to Taussig after she graduated from medical school?

Answer 4

• she lost her hearing and relied on lip-reading and hearing aids for the rest of her career.

Question 5

What is anoxemia or “blue baby” syndrome?

Answer 5

• a congenital heart condition, caused by a defect which prevents the heart from receiving enough oxygen. It is caused by either transposition of the great arteries, tetralogy of Fallot, persistent truncus arteriosus, tricuspid atresia or total anomalous pulmonary venous return.

Question 6

What did Taussig do to advance our understanding of anoxemia (blue baby syndrome)?

Answer 6

• fluoroscopy, a new x-ray technique, to establish that babies suffering from anoxemia had a leaking septum (the wall that separates the chambers of the heart), and an underdeveloped artery leading from the heart to the lungs.

Question 7

What is the Blalock-Taussig shunt?

Answer 7

• a surgical procedure used to increase pulmonary blood flow for palliation in duct dependent cyanotic heart defects like pulmonary atresia.
• one branch of the subclavian artery or carotid artery is separated and connected with the pulmonary artery.

Question 8

How has the Blalock-Taussig shunt been modifed?

Answer 8

• now a length of artificial tubing is sewn between either the subclavian or the carotid artery and the corresponding side branch of the pulmonary artery, thus obviating the need to cut off blood supply and making it easier to regulate the blood flow to the lungs. Some centers now use a shunt directly from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery, a Sano shunt. This is done to avoid the reduced diastolic blood flow in the coronary circulation associated with the Blalock–Taussig shunt.

Question 9

At what hospital did Taussig and Blalock work?

Answer 9

• pediatric department of Johns Hopkins in Maryland.