Correspondence, C. Walton Lillehei to the Electrodyne Company, supplier of an external pacemaker and defibrillator unit

Correspondence, C. Walton Lillehei to the Electrodyne Company, supplier of an external pacemaker and defibrillator unit

Open Heart Surgery

In 1952, engineer Alan Belgard and cardiologist Paul Zoll designed an external defibrillator and pacemaker which was sold commercially by the Electrodyne Company of Norwood, Massachusetts. The unit was comprised of an electrocardiograph to monitor hear rhythm and a pulse generator that provided electronic stimulation through electrodes strapped to a patient's chest. The external pacemaker was one of the early devices Dr. C. Walton Lillehei utilized to treat patients who developed heart block following the repair of a congenital heart defect during open-heart surgery. The device, which provided a high-voltage charge to stimulate the weakened heart, produced burns and ulcers on the skin whereupon the electrodes were placed, thus making it problematic for use on young children. External pacing was abandoned by Lillehei following the invention of the myocardial electrode and wire and the use of the Grass Physiological Stimulator as a pacing unit. The first successful clinical application of a myocardial wire and stimulator for the treatment of heart block as on January 30, 1957.

C. Walton Lillehei

"Appliance Companies, 1957," Box 91, C. Walton Lillehei papers, uarc2000-7, University of Minnesota Archives

University of Minnesota

4-Feb-57

University of Minnesota

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Open Heart Surgery

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