Blalock-Taussig shunt

In surgery, the Blalock-Taussig shunt is a procedure to give palliation to cyanotic heart defects(Blue baby syndrome). The aim of the procedure is to secure blood flow to the lungs while waiting for corrective surgery.

One branch of the subclavian artery(Arteria subclavia) or carotid artery(Arteria carotis) is separated and connected with the pulmonary artery(Arteria pulmonalis). The lunggets more blood with low oxygenationfrom the body. The first area of application was the Tetralogy of Fallot. Usually the left arm of the baby grows normally after that procedure.

The procedure is no longer in use in its original form. Now a length of artificial tubing, 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter is sewn between either a. subclavia or a. carotis and the corresponding side branch of the pulmonary artery, thus obliviating the need to cut of blood supply and making it easier to regulate the blood flow to the lungs.

The original procedure was named for Alfred B. Blalock, surgeon, Baltimore, (1899-1964) and Helen B. Taussig, cardiologist, Baltimore/Boston, (1898-1986) who, along with technician Vivien Thomas, developed the procedure. Taussig got the idea from the observation that children with a cyanotic heart defect and a patent ductus arteriosus(PDA) lived longer than those without the PDA. The shunt thus mimicks the function of a PDA.de:Blalock-Taussig-Anastomose

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blalock-Taussig+shunt Wikipedia article Blalock-Taussig shunt.