Transposition of the great vessels historical perspective


 * Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, M.B.B.S. [mailto:psingh@perfuse.org]; ; Keri Shafer, M.D. [mailto:kshafer@bidmc.harvard.edu]; Assistant Editor(s)-In-Chief: Kristin Feeney, B.S. [mailto:kfeeney@perfuse.org]

Overview
The word transposition was coined by Farre in 1814

Historical overview

 * The TGA was first described in 1797 by Matthew Baillie as a "singular malformation"
 * In 1814 Farre described it as transposition.
 * No treatment was available until the middle of the 20th century.
 * In the 1950s, surgical atrial septectomy was developed followed by balloon atrial septostomy in the 1960s. These surgical therapies were not curative, but were palliative. They were later followed by physiological procedures.
 * Today, the survival rate for infants with TGA is greater than 90%.