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Development of Pediatric Cardiology in Latin America

Until the first quarter of the 20th century, most physicians were more than happy to differentiate congenital heart lesions from rheumatic heart disease, which then was rampant. As early as 1932, Dr Rodolfo Kreutzer, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, was already involved in the study of congenital heart defects. He started off assessing children with a stethoscope and with Einthoven electrocardiography equipment. The cardiac unit at the Buenos Aires Children’s Hospital was created in 1936. It established the onset of pediatric cardiology in Argentina and fueled its development in South America. Nearly at the same time, Agustin Castellanos from Cuba also became a pioneer in the assessment of congenital heart disease. He described the clinical applications of intravenous angiocardiography in 1937. Meanwhile in Mexico, Dr Ignacio Chavez founded the National Institute of Cardiology in 1944 in Mexico City. It was the first center in the world to be exclusively devoted to cardiology. From this center, Victor Rubio and Hugo Limon performed the first therapeutic cardiac catheterization in 1953. Meanwhile, Professor Euriclydes Zerbini from Sao Paulo, Brazil, built the largest and most important school of cardiac surgeons in South America. In Santiago, Chile, the Calvo Makenna Hospital was the center where Helmut Jaegger operated on the first infant with extracorporeal circulation in Latin America in 1956. The patient was a 1-month-old baby, with complete transposition of the great arteries, who underwent an Albert procedure. Currently, there are many fully equipped centers all over the region, capable of dealing with most lesions and of providing excellent medical, interventional, and surgical treatment. Outcomes have improved substantially over the last 20 years. These achievements have gone beyond our pioneers' dreams. However, many neonates and young infants die prior to surgery because referral centers are overburdened and have long surgical waiting lists. Clearly, we still have to mastermind and establish sustainable public health policies to overcome these challenges.