In the introduction of this thesis it is expounded that for the surgical correction of several congenital and acquired intracardiac defects it is essential to be able to work for a prolonged time under direct vision in an opened and bloodfree heart cavity. This involves that the circulation, or at any rate the circulation through the heart, has to be stopped for some time. The advantages and disadvantages of some expedients (such as hypothermia or deep hypothermia with or without artificial circulation, cross circulation or pump-oxygenators etc.) to make this possible, are shortly discussed. In using a pump-oxygenator the circulation through the heart cavities and the lungs is stopped. The bloodstream is led from the caval veins through an ...