The anatomy of a collection

An old collection of 81 congenitally malformed hearts was examined in detai l using the system of sequential segmental analysis. The specimens were alm ost entirely from infants and young children who had died during the two de cades between 1954 and 1973. There had been surgical intervention in 26 cas es, and most of these patients died during or shortly after the operation. The various anomalies are listed, and the pattern of prevalence is contrast ed 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 cris s-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. (C) 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc.