Arritmología pediátrica, el reto del siglo XXI / Paediatric arrhythmology: The challenge of the 21st century

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[Pacemaking in Cracow in years 1966-1980]. / Elektrostymulacja serca w Krakowie w latach 1966-1980.

Permanent pacemaking, a new and effective bradycardia--treatment method, has appeared in the sixties. In Cracow the first emergency temporary stimulation by means of transvenously inserted intracardiac electrode was performed in 1966. Permanent technique of artificial pacing was introduced soon after. The number of pacemaker implantations grew successfully, obtaining 750 of the end of the seventies when the Institute of Cardiology of Nicolaus Copernicus Medical Academy was established. Assortment of implantable devices also became wider, including such rare constructions like nuclear pacemakers and an inductive coupled pacemaker.

The invention and reinvention of cardiac pacing.

Two primitive pacemakers were invented between 1925 and 1932, demonstrating that adequate knowledge existed to pace the heart for brief periods. Heart specialists ignored these interesting inventions. In contrast, Zoll's announcement of external pacing in 1952 spurred intense interest and an outpouring of research. The reasons for the different response of heart specialists in the 1950s have to do with improved medical understanding of cardiac arrhythmias, growing confidence that cardiac resuscitation was possible, and the expansion of hospital-based medicine after World War II.