1947

Western Reserve surgeon Claude Beck reports first case of a patient who survived after the use of countershock in treating intraoperative ventricular fibrillation (open-chest defibrillation via emergency thoracotomy); in 1941, he had published two case reports of unsuccessful resuscitation, first attempted in 1938 (Fye II, 864; Jeffrey, loc 219-220). Paul Zoll’s experiments on application of current across closed chest to terminate ventricular fibrillation in early 50s(Morris, loc 2872ff.); Kouwenhoven’s (at Hopkins) development of technique of closed-chest cardiac message in 1960; and introduction of continuous ECG monitoring of high-risk patients along with personnel trained in techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and electric countershock – these three developments taken together enabled “defibrillation to have a meaningful impact in reducing the incidence of death from cardiac arrest” (Fye II, 864).