[Development and current status of heart surgery].

The history of development of Cardiac Surgery is made, analizing the factors influencing this evolution, such as the anatomic and physiological factors of cardiopathies as the fundamental factor of the fast development of this discipline. Reference is made over the influences exerted by Cardiac Surgery on the development on other medical disciplines such as the Intensive Care Units, Pacemakers, the Fundamentals of Congenital Heart Diseases and the studies over shock etc., etc., etc. The present status of Cardiac Surgery is exposed first by analysis of the global Surgical Results of the Instituto Nacional de Cardiología since 1945 up to date and finally the present results since 1971 to 1979 are shown.