[Surgical relevance of some aspects of heart's embriology].

We consider some aspects of cardiac embriology which explain the formation of pericardial cysts, anomalies of venae cavae, types of atrial septal defect (ostium primum, secundum, foramen ovale), anomalies in septal ventricular development by absence of structures to perform the septum (atrio-ventricularis communis, truncus arteriosus), lack of alineation (Taussig-Bing's complex, transposition of the great vessels, Eisenmenger's complex, Fallot's tetralogy) or interruption in their development (isolated ventricular septal defect). Finally the evolution of aortic arcs, ductus, aorta's istmus and anomalies in coronary arteries, are also considered.

[Historical data and some comments on closed techniques in cardiac surgery].

On the 29th of May, 1907 Ortiz de la Torre preformed, in the General Hospital of Madrid, the first surgery to treat a cardiac wound. In this same year Rehn reported the first 124 cases of sutured cardiac wounds, following the first one, performed by him, in the world on the 9th of September, 1896 which opened the cardiac surgery. This started with the so called closed techniques.

[Historical evolution of prosthetic heart valves].

The historical evolution of the prosthetic heart valves is resumed, quoting the first experimental steps, the conditions that a prosthesis has to fulfil, and the first clinical attempts with the Hufnagel's valve in the treatment of the aortic insufficiency (September 11, 1952) and with the Chesterman's in the pathology of the mitral valve (July 22, 1955) till the Starr Edwards' ball valve (Agoust 12, 1960). The characteristics of the different types of ball valve are described (Harken, Smeloff, etc), disc valves (Kay-Shiley, Beall, Lillehei-Nakib etc.), tilting disc valves (Bjork-Shiley, Hall-Kaster, Omniscience etc), bileaflet valves ( St.

[Cardiac transplant and artificial heart. Historical data].

After mentioning the importance of implementing these techniques, frecuently used both in USA and Spain, he refers to his experience on 70 dogs since the end of the 50's in the last century. Not only does he refer to the heterotopic transplant, on the neck, undertaken to test the importance of the denervation, maintenance of the viability of the organ using hypothermia, and the anatomopathologic study of the inmunologic rejection, but also to the orthotopic transplant, this is the replacement of one heart by other, using extracorporeal circulation. He refers to the first transplant practiced by Hardy, on the 23rd of January 1964, in which he unsuccessfully used the heart of a chimpanzee and to the one performed by Barnard the 3rd of December 1967, with a survival span of 18 days.