Historical development of the cardiac pacemaker

The history of electric cardiac stimulation is long and fascinating. It is not only the anatomy of the heart, but also the analysis of the peripheral pulse that plays an important role in the history of cardiac pacing. The Romans, the Greeks and even before them the Chinese attempted to explain the origin and variations of the pulse as the basis of further investigations. - The growing clinical importance has been recognized and renewed as Zoll in 1952 described a successful resuscitation in cardiac standstill by external stimulation. Meanwhile more than 3 million patients with disorders of cardiac rhythm have been treated all over the world in the last 25 years. Recently the technical refinements of intracardiac stimulation and defibrillation improved our knowledge of cardiac physiology and diseases, and arrhythmias in particular. The pertinent interest in these dramatic developments and the intention to learn more about the basic fundamentals are reasons to look at the history of cardiac pacing. The advances in the field of therapeutic and diagnostic application of cardiac pacing will continue as rapidly as before in order to give us further significant aid in taking care of the patient.