PEDIATRICS Vol. 6 No. 2 August 1950, pp. 299-304
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CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE

A Symposium

STANLEY GIBSON M.D.

A short while ago, I asked a busy pediatrician of long experience how many "blue babies" he had seen in the course of his practice. He thought for a moment, then replied, "Four." Since that time I have made several other inquiries among my pediatric associates and have been surprised to find how small a number of cases of congenital heart disease they have had in their private practice. Yet if some stranger from another planet should visit Dr. Taussig's clinic, he might well conclude that congenital heart disease is as frequent as measles. The concentration of cases in a few medical centers throughout the country has doubtless given a false impression of the frequency and importance of congenital malformations of the heart. If then the problem represents so small a portion of general pediatric practice, one may fairly ask whether the already overworked children's specialist should undertake an additional burden. He is apt, too, to be discouraged when he contemplates some of the special technics and gadgets which have become popular in cardiac diagnosis. Let me hasten to assure him that his feeling of frustration is no more acute than that of many of us of the older generation when some of our chemical pediatricians begin to toss their atomic weights around and overwhelm us with millimols and milliequivalents.

I wish, however, to emphasize the fact that it requires very little time and effort to have a good working knowledge of the diagnosis of most of the congenital cardiovascular anomalies which lend themselves to correction or improvement by surgical means.