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Unexpected Circulatory Arrest

PAUL M. ZOLL, M.D.; ARTHUR J. LINENTHAL, M.D.; LEONA R. NORMAN, M.D.; MILTON H. PAUL, M.D.; WILLIAM GIBSON, M.D.

AMA Arch Intern Med. 1955;96(5):639-653.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Stokes-Adams disease consists of attacks of cerebral ischemia in patients with atrioventricular heart block. The attacks are due to inadequate circulation resulting from very slow idioventricular rhythm, ventricular standstill, ventricular tachycardia, or ventricular fibrillation.¹ Their manifestations include dizziness, syncope, prolonged unconsciousness, and convulsions, and they may end in death. At times the attacks may be frequent and severe. If the patient can survive such periods, however, he may live for many years without further episodes.²

Stokes-Adams attacks often require emergency resuscitation, and desperate measures may be necessary. Therapy is complicated by the unpredictable occurrence, frequency, and duration of the seizures. Drugs and cardiac puncture, the only therapy heretofore available, are dangerous and often ineffective.

We have developed a new therapeutic approach to this serious disease: an externally-applied cardiac pacemaker which stimulates the heart electrically, terminates ventricular standstill, and maintains an externally-paced ventricular rhythm for long periods. This approach . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Boston

From the Medical Research Department of the Beth Israel Hospital and the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. National Heart Institute Trainee, National Institutes of Health, U. S. P. H. S. (Dr. Paul) and Research Fellow of the American Heart Association (Dr. Gibson).

Footnotes
Submitted for publication July 25, 1955.

Read before the Section on Internal Medicine at the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, Atlantic City, June 8, 1955.

Aided by grants from the U. S. Public Health Service, the Patrons of Research of the Beth Israel Hospital, and the Jacob A. Slosberg Memorial Fund of the Massachusetts Heart Association.

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