Atrial fibrillation historical background
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Historical Background of Atrial Fibrillation
Because the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation requires measurement of the electrical activity of the heart, it was not truly described until 1874, when Edmé Félix Alfred Vulpian observed the irregular atrial electrical behavior that he termed "fremissement fibrillaire" in dog hearts.[1]
In the mid-eighteenth century, Jean-Baptiste de Sénac made note of dilated, irritated atria in people with mitral stenosis.[2] The irregular pulse associated with AF was first recorded in 1876 by Carl Wilhelm Hermann Nothnagel and termed "delirium cordis", stating that "In this form of arrhythmia the heartbeats follow each other in complete irregularity.
At the same time, the height and tension of the individual pulse waves are continuously changing".[3] Correlation of delirium cordis with the loss of atrial contraction as reflected in the loss of a waves in the jugular venous pulse was made by Sir James MacKenzie in 1904.[4]
Willem Einthoven published the first electrocardiogram showing AF in 1906.[5]
The connection between the anatomic and electrical manifestations of AF and the irregular pulse was made in 1909 by Carl Julius Rothberger, Heinrich Winterberg, and Sir Thomas Lewis.[6][7][8]
References
- ↑ Vulpian A. (1874). Note sur les effets de la faradisation directe des ventricules du coeur chez le chien. Archives de Physiologie Normale et Pathologique 6:975.
- ↑ McMichael J. (1982). History of atrial fibrillation 1628-1819 Harvey-de Senac-Laennec. Br Heart J 48: 193-7. PMID 7049202.
- ↑ Nothnagel H. (1876). Ueber arythmische Herzthatigkeit. Deutsches Archiv fur Klinische Medizin 17: 190-220.
- ↑ MacKenzie J. (1904). The inception of the rhythm of the heart by the ventricle. Br Med J 1: 529-36.
- ↑ Einthoven W. (1906). Le telecardiogramme. Archives Internationales de Physiologie 4: 132-64.
- ↑ Rothberger CJ, Winterberg H. (1909). Vorhofflimmern und Arhythmia perpetua. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift 22: 839-44
- ↑ Lewis T (1909). Auricular fibrillation: a common clinical condition. Br Med J 2: 1528
- ↑ Flegel KM (1995). "From delirium cordis to atrial fibrillation: historical development of a disease concept". Ann. Intern. Med. 122 (11): 867–73. PMID 7741373.