Tetralogy Surgery - Back To Baltimore 70 Years Later: Melbourne Heritage and Group Tribute to Juan Comas

Abstract

Surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot progressed rapidly from the palliative arterio-pulmonary Blalock-Taussig shunt, introduced in Baltimore 70 years ago, to the "classic" complete transventricular repair technique, with which excellent early results were achieved soon thereafter. However, as duration of follow-up increased, so did the awareness of development of troubling late complications, including severe pulmonary insufficiency, right ventricular dilatation and dysfunction, and tricuspid valve insufficiency, all contributing to increasing incidence of late reoperations, as well as to arrhythmias and sudden death. This realization fueled the initial introduction of the transatrial-transpulmonary repair technique by Kawashima, as well as the subsequent firm establishment of this technique within the framework of an integrated surgical approach by Roger Mee in Melbourne. In turn, Mee's numerous trainees and associates led the dissemination of this approach and provided the impetus for the current wide adoption of a variety of right ventricular and pulmonary valve preservation techniques. In addition to the outstanding surgical results reported by individual centers adopting this surgical strategy, encouraging multi-institutional data are emerging regarding the benefits of these approaches for more favorable early and, most importantly, late outcome. One student and strong proponent of the Melbourne approach was our late colleague and friend Juan Comas, to whose memory this article can serve as tribute.