| Abstract | Complete heart block developed in more than 10% of C. Walton Lillehei's early patients undergoing closure of ventricular septal defects, and hospital mortality was 100% in this group of patients. This problem of early fatality from heart block was completely eliminated with the use of a myocardial electrode in combination with an external plug-in electric stimulator. This method of treatment, suggested by Dr John A. Johnson, a professor of physiology at the University of Minnesota, was first used by Dr Lillehei on January 30, 1957. The next 3 years would witness the development of a portable, external, battery-powered pacemaker, and then an implantable pacemaker available for thousands of patients susceptible to lethal Stokes-Adams attacks. Fifty years have passed, and in 2005, approximately 800,000 pacemakers were implanted worldwide. |
| Authors | Vincent L Gott
(Affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. vgott at csurg.jhmi.jhu.edu)
|
| Journal | The Annals of thoracic surgery
(Ann Thorac Surg)
Vol. 83
Issue 1
Pg. 349-53
(Jan 2007)
ISSN: 1552-6259 Netherlands |
| PMID | 17184706
(Publication Type: Biography, Historical Article, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
|
| Topics |
- Cardiac Pacing, Artificial
- History, 20th Century
- Humans
- Industry
- Pacemaker, Artificial
(history)
- Physiology
|
