THIS report attempts to present a concise yet specific and impartial look at a broad area of cardiac surgery today. It cannot be thorough, nor can it be hoped that all authorities will agree with all its parts.The great pioneering surgeons who progressively developed successful procedures for the palliation and correction of so many cardiac diseases also originated or exploited many concomitant advances in technology, including the methods of extracorporeal circulation and the various types of intravascular prostheses. Clearly, any effort to append references or to give credit to the innumerable contributors to the progress of this great field . . .