Aubrey Leatham and the introduction of cardiac pacing to the UK.
In the early 1950s, Dr Aubrey Leatham established a cardiac unit at St. George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner, London. He developed and taught the essential clinical skill of cardiac auscultation. Under his guidance a clinical department for the care of cardiac patients was developed and coupled to physiological academic research. He was a pioneer in cardiac pacing and, in 1961, Harold Siddons, O'Neal Humphries, and Aubrey Leatham implanted the first 'indwelling' pacemaker in the UK in a 65-year-old man with repeated Stokes-Adams attacks due to complete heart block. The nickel-cadmium 'accumulator', which powered the pacemaker, had to be recharged once a week.
John Camm
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British Heart Foundation Professor of Clinical Cardiology, St George's Hospital and University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK. jcamm@sgul.ac.uk
Jones
Sue
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Gammage
Michael D
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Rowland
Edward
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D000219:Adams-Stokes Syndrome / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D000368:Aged; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial / Q000266:history*; D002309:Cardiology / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D006326:Heart Auscultation / Q000266:history; D006327:Heart Block / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006113:United Kingdom