Breakthrough! : how three people saved "blue babies" and changed medicine forever /
"In 1944 a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome. The operation's success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for open-heart surgery. But the technique had been painstakingly developed by Vivien Thomas,...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Boston :
Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
[2015]
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| Summary: | "In 1944 a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome. The operation's success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for open-heart surgery. But the technique had been painstakingly developed by Vivien Thomas, Blalocks African American lab assistant, who stood behind Blalock in the operating room to give him step-by-step instructions. The stories of this medical and social breakthrough and the lives of Thomas, Blalock, and their colleague Dr. Helen Taussig are intertwined in this compelling nonfiction narrative"-- "The story of the landmark 1944 surgical procedure that repaired the heart of a child with blue baby syndrome--lack of blood oxygen caused by a congenital defect. The team that developed the procedure included a cardiologist and a surgeon, but most of the actual work was done by Vivien Thomas, an African American lab assistant who was frequently mistaken for a janitor"-- |
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| Physical Description: | xiii, 129 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Audience: | Age 9-12. Middle School. 1170 |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-122) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780547821832 (hardback) 0547821832 (hardback) |