[One-hundred years of atrial fibrillation in the Dutch Journal of Medicine].
In the December 1, 1906 issue ofthis journal (Dutch journal of Medicine), the Dutch Nobel laureate Willem Einthoven presented the first ECG of atrial fibrillation in a patient with an irregular pulse. This clearly showed for the first time the importance of electrocardiography in the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. Even today, electrocardiography is still the primary diagnostic tool in cardiology. Einthoven did not realise at the time that in the elderly, atrial fibrillation would develop into an epidemic, with symptoms and complications that can be better dealt with now than in 1906.
Verheugt
F W A
FW
Universitair Medisch Centrum St Radboud, afd. Cardiologie, Hartlong- centrum, Nijmegen. f.verheugt@cardio.umcn.nl
Smeets
J L R M
JL
D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000266:history*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000266:history