The Anatomy of a Collection

An old collection of 81 congenitally malformed hearts was examined in detail using the system of sequential segmental analysis. The specimens were almost entirely from infants and young children who had died during the two decades between 1954 and 1973. There had been surgical intervention in 26 cases, and most of these patients died during or shortly after the operation. The various anomalies are listed, and the pattern of prevalence is contrasted to that of present-day collections. Among the many interesting specimens there was a fine example of one of the rarest of cardiac anomalies, a criss-cross arrangement of atrioventricular connections. The collection, as an entity, gives an interesting historical insight of the state of congenital heart disease during the early years of the development of cardiac surgery.