Myocardial Revascularization: The Cleveland Clinic Experience

Abstract

The introduction of extracorporeal circulation provided tremendous impetus to the surgery of congenital and acquired heart diseases. Operative correction of septal deffects and deformed heart valves has become routine and standardized in most major surgical centers. The number of surgeons, cardiologists, and clinical investigators who have made contributions in this area of cardiovascular surgery is now legion. Yet, at this writing, it seems paradoxic that more energy has been directed toward the treatment of congenital-cyanotic heart disease than toward the most devastating killer of mankind, coronary arterial disease! The same medical mind that would encourage aggressive surgical attacks upon infants with transposition of the great vessel or truncus arteriosus fails to see the potential for helping adults who face incapacity and death from ischemic heart disease.