Cardiol Young 2009; 19:
12–29
© Cambridge University
Press
ISSN 1047-9511
doi:10.1017/S1047951108003429
Accepted for publication
30 October 2008
First published online 15
December 2008
One Hundred Years of Texts Describing Congenitally Malformed
Hearts from 1814 to 1914
Authors
William N Evans, Ruben J
Acherman, Robert H Anderson
Source
ChildrenŐs Heart Center
Nevada, 3006 S Maryland Pkwy, Ste 690, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA.
E-mail: WNevans50@aol.com.
Abstract
Before paediatric cardiology
emerged as a specialty in the mid 20th century, a body of literature had developed
over centuries devoted to description of congenitally malformed hearts. In this
review, we have selected highlights from such texts written during the period
of 100 years from 1814 to 1914, demonstrating their potential relevance to
controversies occurring during the twentieth century in the categorisation of
such hearts. We begin in 1814, with the first wide-ranging book devoted to
congenital cardiac malformations. We end with a publication from 1914, because
it included an illustration of the first electrocardiogram in a text devoted to
paediatric disease. As we will show, these works from the 19th and early 20th
centuries reflect topics still relevant today, namely the aetiology of cardiac
malformations, clinicopathologic correlations, attempts at classification, and
lack of effective treatments. Attention to their content could have served to ameliorate
controversies, some of them ongoing.