A History of the origin, evolution, and impact of electrocardiography

doi:10.1016/0002-9149(94)90135-X

The American Journal of Cardiology

Volume 73, Issue 13, 15 May 1994, Pages 937-949

https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9149(94)90135-X Get rights and content

Abstract

The invention of the electrocardiograph by Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven in 1902 gave physicians a powerful tool to help them diagnose various forms of heart disease, especially arrhythmias and acute myocardial infarction. The discovery of x-rays in 1895 and the invention of the electrocardiograph 7 years later inaugurated a new era in which various machines and technical procedures gradually replaced the physician's unaided senses and the stethoscope as the primary tools of cardiac diagnosis. These sophisticated new approaches provided objective information about the structure and function of the heart in health and disease. This review summarizes the origins and development of electrocardiography and addresses its role in defining cardiology as a specialty.

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A History of the origin, evolution, and impact of electrocardiography

Abstract

Am Heart J

Dis Chest

Am J Cardiol

Lancet

Lancet

JAMA

Heart

Am Heart J

Am Heart J

Am Heart J

Pflüger's Arch f d ges Physiol.

Am Heart J

Medicine and the Reign of Technology

The Machine at the Bedside: Strategies for Using Technology in Patient Care

Diagnostic technologies: x-rays, electrocardiograms, and cat scans

S Calif Law Rev

The development of the science of diagnosis

J S C Med Assoc

The medical influence of the stethoscope

Sci Am

A History of Electro-cardiography

Electrocardiography

Electricity and Medicine: History of their Interaction

Extending the senses: the graphic method

Med Heritage

Experimental results relating to the rhythmical and excitatory motions of the ventricle of the heart of the frog

On the electrical phenomena of the excitatory process in the heart of the tortoise, as investigated photographically

J Physiol (Lond)

A demonstration on man of electromotive changes accompanying the heart's beat

J Physiol (Lond)

The telltale heart: physiological instruments, graphic methods, and clinical hopes, 1854–1914

Report on experiments and observations relating to the process of fatigue and recovery

Br Med J

On the electromotive phenomena of the mammalian heart

Ueber die Form des menschlichen Electrocardiogramms

Arch f d Ges Physiol

Descartes and the ECG lettering series

J Hist Med Allied Sci

Did Einthoven invent a string galvanometer?

Br Heart J

Galvanometrische registratie van het menschelijk electrocardiogram

Selected Papers on Electrocardiography of Willem Einthoven with a Bibliography, Biographical Notes and Comments

Ein neues Galvanometer

Annalen der Physik

The string galvanometer and the human electrocardiogram

Le télécardiogramme

Arch Int de Physiol

The telecardiogram [1906]

Am Heart J

The origins of the electrocardiograph as a clinical instrument

Med Hist Suppl

An epitome of ancient pulse lore

Bull Hist Med

The electrocardiogram and the arrhythmias: historical insights

Karel Frederik Wenckebach, 1864–1940

Clin Cardiol

Two Pioneers of Electrocardiography: The Correspondence Between Einthoven and Lewis from 1908–1926

Early perceptions of the electrocardiogram: from arrhythmia to infarction

Bull Hist Med

The neurogenic and myogenic theories and the modern classification and interpretation of cardiac arrhythmias

Med Rec

On the interpretation of pulse-tracings

J Exp Med

Paroxysmal irregularity of the heart and auricular fibrillation

Auricular fibrillation: a common clinical condition

Br Med J

Auricular fibrillation and its relationship to clinical irregularity of the heart

Heart

Vorhofflimmem und Arhythmia perpetua

Wien Klin Wochenschr

Discussion of G. H. Fox: the clinical significance of transitory delirium cordis

Trans Assoc Am Physicians

A lecture on the evidences of auricular fibrillation, treated historically

Br Med J