Blalock Taussig Shunt

Blalock and Taussig developed their pioneering operation for blue children in 1945 and it has continued to be a very successful operation to this day. Originally the artery to the arm (sublcavian) was stitched directly to the pulmonary artery and this allowed extra blood from the aorta (body artery) to pass into the lungs and receive oxygen. This is called a classical BT shunt (CBTS).

The blood supply to the arm is reduced and this caused some children problems and so a later development was the modified BT shunt (MBTS) when a tube made of Gore-Tex is stitched between the arm and lung arteries.
This operation may be performed alone or in combination with another eg the Norwood Operation.