Intracardiac operations; use of a mechanical pump oxygenator

Cardiac operations under direct vision, employing extracorporeal circulation for heart-lung by-pass, are dependent for success on two major factors: (1) The use of an apparatus capable of maintaining optimal blood flow without toxifying the blood during its extracorporeal circuit, and (2) The ability of the surgeon to correctly assay the defect or defects during cardiotomy and correct them by suitable reparative techniques. Although perfection has by no means been achieved in either of these fields, much progress has been made to date in both. It remains for the repeated clinical application of the method in suitably selected cases to eventually make it a standardized operative procedure.