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The Blalock-Taussig shunt: the social history of an eponym

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

William N. Evans
William N. Evans*
Affiliation:
Children’s Heart Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America
*
Correspondence to: William N. Evans MD, Children’s Heart Center, 3006 S. Maryland Pkwy, Ste. 690, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA. Tel: (702) 732-1290. Fax: (702) 732-1385; E-mail: wnevans50@aol.com
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Abstract

Creating eponyms for surgical procedures or medical discoveries can be a simple objective process of attaching names of innovators. Some eponyms, however, have a controversial history. Undertaking the first systemic-to-pulmonary arterial shunt required the combined efforts of Helen Taussig, Vivien Thomas, and Alfred Blalock. In this review, I attempt to look beyond the mechanics of attributing the eponym to the larger social history surrounding the term.

Keywords

Historypaediatric cardiac surgerytetralogy of FallotJohns Hopkins
Type
Historical Vignette
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 119 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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