Lest we forget: Early Canadian contributions to the care of children with congenital heart malformations

In a century of remarkable progress in medicine, one of the outstanding stories is the development of successful treatment of congenital heart malformations. This achievement is the outcome of the ideas and research of many people. Many of the early 'transforming' advances originated in Canada. Maude Abbott catalogued and classified heart malformations in a clinically meaningful manner. Arthur Charles and David Scott in Toronto, Ontario, produced a clinically useful heparin preparation, and the studies of Bill Bigelow led to the application of hypothermia in cardiac surgery. John Keith and Bill Mustard at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, and Arnold Johnson and Tony Dobell at the Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, established the first Canadian programs devoted to the correction of congenital heart defects in childhood. Mustard devised the first widely successful operation for transposition of the great arteries. Flavio Coceani and Peter Olley discovered the role of prostaglandin E in the ductus arteriosus, and applied that knowledge clinically, The turn of the century is an appropriate time to celebrate these Canadian successes.