The Brazilian Contributions to Congenital Cardiac Surgery

Abstract

The world of congenital cardiac surgery has been profoundly impacted by surgeons heralding from Brazil. These contributions date back to the infancy of congenital cardiac surgery and continue today. In this editorial, we briefly reflect on the legacy of the contributions to congenital cardiac surgery from Brazil, highlighting some of the key pioneers and their role in shaping the specialty. EURYCLIDES DE JESUS ZERBINI Born in 1912, in the rural countryside, the son of an Italian elementary school teacher, Zerbini pursued medicine as a result of pressure from his father [1]. While at São Paulo's Santa Casa de Misericórdia, a fashionable teaching hospital, he met the famous surgeon Alípio Correa Netto, who became Zerbini's mentor and guide throughout his career [1]. Zerbini practiced thoracic surgery in the 1930s, consisting mostly of tuberculosis treatment, but in 1942 he performed his first cardiac surgery on a six-year-old child with cardiac tamponade from a fragment of an anvil. The shard had injured the left anterior descending coronary artery and this vessel was ligated, saving the boy's life [1]. After touring the United States of America and observing surgical legends, such as Drs. Blalock and Lillehei, Zerbini brought cardiac surgery back to Brazil, performing the Blalock-Taussig shunt, ligation of the patent arterial duct, and coarctation repair [1]. Zerbini then devoted much of his attention to tetralogy of Fallot, performing 480 repairs and presenting his analysis of 103 of his initial repairs in 1968 [1]. Zerbini became known as an international expert in this area. Constantly innovating, Zerbini and colleagues developed a homologous dura mater prosthetic valve in 1971, which was used extensively throughout the country and abroad, but it was discontinued