Personal glimpses into the evolution of truncus arteriosus repair

Truncus arteriosus (common arterial trunk) is an uncommon but complex congenital heart anomaly. Until the early 1970s, typically, patients died between the age of a few weeks to six months. Congestive heart failure owing to large pulmonary blood flow and truncal valve regurgitation was the major cause of death until innovative surgical techniques were discovered. In 1963, Herbert Sloan at the University of Michigan completed the first repair using a nonvalved conduit with long-term survival (not reported until 1974). At the Mayo Clinic, Rastelli and McGoon studied and completed the first repair with a valved homograft in 1967. In 1976, Ebert used the 12-mm Hancock valved conduit in infants under six months of age (University of California, San Francisco). In Boston (mid-1980s), Jonas and Castañeda used aortic homografts, which greatly reduced bleeding as a postoperative complication. In the early 1990s, Bove (University of Michigan) reported outstanding results with an approach based on primary repair within the first few days of life for patients with truncus arteriosus. Improved prognosis for patients with truncus arteriosus resulted from these corrective operations by analyzing the natural history of this condition while applying innovative ideas, improved technology, and perioperative care.