The arterial switch operation, also called the Jatene procedure, is an operation in which surgeons redirect the flow of blood through abnormal hearts. In 1975, Adib Jatene conducted the first successful arterial switch operation on a human infant. The arterial switch operation corrects a condition called transposition of the great arteries, abbreviated TGA, also called transposition of the great vessels, abbreviated TGV. TGA occurs when the pulmonary artery, which supplies deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the aorta, which takes oxygenated blood to the body, are switched, or transposed. The switch between the aorta and pulmonary artery results in dangerously low levels of oxygen, a condition called cyanosis, in newborn infants, which causes them to die if a surgeon does not correct it.

The arterial switch operation, also called the Jatene procedure, is an operation in which surgeons redirect the flow of blood through abnormal hearts. In 1975, Adib Jatene conducted the first successful arterial switch operation on a human infant. The arterial switch operation corrects a condition called transposition of the great arteries, abbreviated TGA, also called transposition of the great vessels, abbreviated TGV. TGA occurs when the pulmonary artery, which supplies deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the aorta, which takes oxygenated blood to the body, are switched, or transposed. The switch between the aorta and pulmonary artery results in dangerously low levels of oxygen, a condition called cyanosis, in newborn infants, which causes them to die if a surgeon does not correct it.

In 1998, researchers Laura Mazzanti and Emanuele Cacciari published “Congenital Heart Disease in Patients with Turner’s Syndrome,” hereafter “Congenital Heart Disease,” in The Journal of Pediatrics. Turner syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by a missing X chromosome and affects one in 1,500 to 2,500 female births. Turner syndrome can result in various developmental issues, such as stunted physical and sexual growth, infertility, and congenital heart disease, or developmental malformations of the heart. At the time of publication, other researchers had established a link between congenital heart defects and Turner syndrome. However, there was little research on the relationship between what specific chromosomal pattern a person had and the types of congenital heart defects that a person presented with. “Congenital Heart Disease” established links between certain types of chromosomal patterns with various congenital heart defects, which the authors argue should allow for improved medical intervention and a better quality of life for people with Turner syndrome.

In 2019, US-based pediatric heart doctor Clayton Smith and colleagues published “Long-Term Outcomes of Tetralogy of Fallot: A Study From the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium,” hereafter, “Long-Term Outcomes,” in JAMA Cardiology. The Tetralogy of Fallot, or TOF, is a group of four congenital anatomical heart abnormalities, all of which lead to the circulation of oxygen-poor blood throughout the body. Congenital conditions are ones that are present from birth. The researchers, who at the time of publication were all affiliated with US medical schools or hospitals, investigated the long-term outcomes of individuals who underwent several different types of complete repair surgery, which is the surgery that remedies all four TOF defects, within the first three months of life. Prior to the release of “Long-Term Outcomes,” studies of TOF outcomes used data from single centers in the US or non-US patient cohorts. “Long-Term Outcomes” was one of the largest US-based, multicenter studies to evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies of complete surgical repair in remedying TOF, a condition that affects around 1,700 infants born in the US every year.