The Rashkind balloon atrial septostomy is a medical procedure, performed during cardiac catheterization

Cardiac catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is the insertion of a catheter into a chamber or vessel of the heart. This is done for both investigational and interventional purposes...

 (heart cath), in which a balloon catheter

Balloon catheter

A balloon catheter is a type of "soft" catheter with an inflatable "balloon" at its tip which is used during a catheterization procedure to enlarge a narrow opening or passage within the body...

 is used to enlarge a foramen ovale

Foramen ovale

There are multiple structures in the human body with the name foramen ovale :* In the fetal heart, the foramen ovale is a shunt from the right atrium to left atrium....

, patent foramen ovale (PFO), or atrial septal defect

Atrial septal defect

Atrial septal defect is a form of congenital heart defect that enables blood flow between the left and right atria via the interatrial septum. The interatrial septum is the tissue that divides the right and left atria...

 (ASD) in order to increase oxygen saturation

Oxygen saturation

Oxygen saturation or dissolved oxygen is a relative measure of the amount of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium. It can be measured with a dissolved oxygen probe such as an oxygen sensor or an optode in liquid media, usually water.It has particular significance in medicine and...

 in patients with cyanotic

Cyanotic heart defect

A cyanotic heart defect is a group-type of congenital heart defects . The patient appears blue , due to deoxygenated blood bypassing the lungs and entering the systemic circulation...

 congenital heart defect

Congenital heart defect

A congenital heart defect is a defect in the structure of the heart and great vessels which is present at birth. Many types of heart defects exist, most of which either obstruct blood flow in the heart or vessels near it, or cause blood to flow through the heart in an abnormal pattern. Other...

s (CHDs). It was developed in 1966 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

s William Rashkind and William Miller at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is one of the largest and oldest children's hospitals in the world. CHOP has been ranked as the best children's hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report and Parents Magazine in recent years. As of 2008, it was ranked #1 in the nation for...

.

William Rashkind was not a surgeon, but a pediatric cardiologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He was one of the fathers of the field of interventional catheterization, and he developed not only this life-saving technique and device for neonates with transposition of the great arteries, but also devices to close atrial septal defects (ASDs) and persistent patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). He was the chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia until his death in 1986 from malignant melanoma.