A Concise History of the ECG: Difference between revisions

'''1974''' Gozensky and Thorne introduce the term 'Rabbit ears' to electrocardiography. Rabbit ears describe the appearence of the QRS complex in lead V1 with an rSR' pattern (good rabbit) being typical of Right Bundle Branch Block and an RSr' (bad rabbit) suggesting a ventricular origin i.e. ventricular ectopy / tachycardia. Gozensky C, Thorne D. Rabbit ears: an aid in distinguishing ventricular ectopy from aberration. Heart Lung 1974;3:634.

'''1976''' Erhardt and colleagues describe the use of a right-sided precordial lead in the diagnosis of right ventricular infarction which had previously been thought to be electrocardiographically silent. Erhardt LR, Sjogrn A, Wahlberg I. Single right-sided precordial lead in the diagnosis of right ventricular involvement in inferior myocardial infarction. Am Heart J 1976;91:571-6

'''1988''' Professor John Pope Boineau of Washington University School of Medicine publishes a 30-year percpective on the modern history of electrocardiography. Boineau JP. Electrocardiology: A 30-year Perspective. Ah Serendipity, My Fulsome Friend. Journal of Electrocardiology 21. Suppl (1988): S1-9

'''1992''' Pedro Brugada and Josep brugada of Barcelona publish a series of 8 cases of sudden death, Right Bundle Branch Block pattern and ST elevation in V1 - V3 in apparently healthy individuals. This 'Brugada Syndrome' may account for 4-12% of unexpected sudden deaths and is the commonest cause of sudden cardiac death in individuals aged under 50 years in South Asia. The technology of the electrocardiogam, which is over 100 years old, can still be used to discover new clinical entities in cardiology. Brugada P, Brugada J. Right Bundle Branch Block, Persistent ST Segment Elevation and Sudden Cardiac Death: A Distinct Clinical and Electrocardiographic Syndrome. J Am Coll Cardiol 1992;20:1391-6

'''1992''' Cohen and He describe a new non-invasive approach to accurately map cardiac electrical activity by using the surface Laplacian map of the body surface electrical potentials. He B, Cohen RJ. Body surface Laplacian ECG mapping. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 1992;39(11):1179-91

'''1993''' Robert Zalenski, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University Detroit, and colleagues publish an influential article on the clinical use of the 15-lead ECG which routinely uses V4R, V8 and V9 in the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes. Like the addition of the 6 standardised unipolar chest leads in 1938 these additional leads increase the sensitivity of the electrocardiogram in detecting myocardial infarction. Zalenski RJ, Cook D, Rydman R. Assessing the diagnostic value of an ECG containing leads V4R, V8, and V9: The 15-lead ECG. Ann Emerg Med 1993;22:786-793

'''1999''' Researchers from Texas show that 12-lead ECGs transmitted via wireless technology to hand-held computers is feasible and can be interpreted reliably by cardiologists. Pettis KS, Savona MR, Leibrandt PN et al. Evaluation of the efficacy of hand-held computer screens for cardiologists' interpretations of 12-lead electrocardiograms. Am Heart J. 1999 Oct;138(4 Pt 1):765-70

'''2000''' Physicians from the Mayo Clinic describe a new hereditary form of Short QT syndrome associated with syncope and sudden death that they discovered in 1999. Several genes have since been implicated. Gussak I, Brugada P, Brugada J, et al. Idiopathic short QT interval: a new clinical syndrome? Cardiology. 2000;94(2):99-102

'''2005''' Danish cardiologists report the successful reduction in the time between onset of chest pain and primary angioplasty when the ECG of patients is transmitted wirelessly from ambulance to the cardiologist's handheld PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). The clinician can make an immediate decision to redirect patients to the catheter lab saving time in transfers between hospital departments. Clemmensen P, Sejersten M, Sillesen M et al. Diversion of ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients for primary angioplasty based on wireless prehospital 12-lead electrocardiographic transmission directly to the cardiologist's handheld computer: a progress report. J Electrocardiol. 2005 Oct;38(4 Suppl):194-8