Prescription to reduce heart palpitations, a mid-18th century prescription in the New Kingdom of Granada

The human being, throughout history, has used plants to prevent and cure diseases. It is important to know that for a long time, the mechanism through which those plants worked was unknown, making herbal medicine a purely empirical science. Medical prescriptions in the 19^th century in the Kingdom of Nueva Granada were considered a significant medical advance as a result of knowledge and medical practices in the old continent. Medical literature of the time achieved, despite the lack of studies, the development of new schemes with exact dosages and new therapeutic possibilities. The medical prescription presented in this article was used in the management of heart palpitations, a frequent symptom nowadays, described as thoracic and/or neck beating, underlying various cardiac and non-cardiac diseases. The recipe for the palpitations of the historical archive "Cipriano Rodríguez Santa María" is a mixture of herbal agents that, as reviewed in the medical literature, showed to have anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, and antioxidant effects, among others, allowing a beneficial effect on cardiac palpitations. Due to the lack of information on the posology, safety in its use, contraindications, and possible adverse effects, its potential use should have been underestimated at that time for the control of palpitations or as phytochemical agents directed to treat diseases causing this symptom.

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The authors explore two heart rhythm troubles described on the occasion of the medical exami- nation of the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei and the French politician Talleyrand. According to modern scientific knowledge, the pathological context of respectively the 17th and 19th c., and the personal medical history of the patients, some retrospective original and objective diagnoses are proposed.

Michel Mirowski and the beginning of a new era of fighting sudden arrhythmic death

Prior to the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias were treated using anti-arrhythmic drugs. The concept of an implantable defibrillator to prevent sudden arrhythmic death was first published by Michel Mirowski in 1970. Despite critical opinions by leading physicians, Michel Mirowski continued development of his vision. Hallmarks in the development of the ICD include the following: internal-external defibrillator used during surgery on humans in 1971/1972; fully implantable defibrillator tested in canines in 1975; defibrillator successfully implanted in a 57-year-old woman in 1980; second generation devices introduced in 1982; US Food and Drug Administration device approved in 1985. Today it is hard to imagine modern medicine without ICD therapy. This article provides the reader a history of the development of the ICD.

The heartfelt music of Ludwig van Beethoven

Musicologists, historians, and physicians have speculated that Beethoven experienced cardiac arrhythmias, and that they manifest in specific compositions. Based on what is known about Beethoven's medical issues, this seems a reasonable assumption to make. This essay strengthens the hypothesis that Beethoven suffered from cardiac arrhythmias by placing Beethoven's music in its historical context, and by identifying several compositions that may reflect Beethoven's experience of an arrhythmia.

[Electrical stimulation of the heart: history, current trends and prospects]

Part 1 of this review is devoted to the history of development of temporary and continuous electric stimulation (ES) of the heart. Up-to-date concepts of bradyarrhythmia are considered along with the most important techniques for its management with the use of two-chamber and frequency-adaptive systems. Algorithms for the choice of optimal ES regimes taking account of the type of bradyarrhythmia are discussed. Current concepts of physiological ES of the heart are considered. The authors describe their own experience with the application of ES of the heart.

Nineteenth century "Traube's pulse" and current "Cardiac alternans": significant features in the history of cardiology

Pulsus alternans is nowadays considered, in the third millennium, a clinical finding indicative of decreased myocardial contractility and an effective expression of ventricular dysfunction. In recent years, clinical scientific studies have evidenced the relevant connections between cardiac alternans and the risk of heart arrhythmias. Pulsus alternans was described in detail for the first time in its meaning as clinical sign of cardiac disease by Ludwig Traube in 1872. Traube had great competence in physical semeiotics and, besides being considered one of the founders of experimental pathology, this German internist accurately presented a situation characterised by a succession of higher and lower pulses. It is not by chance that one of the current synonyms of pulsus alternans is precisely Traube's pulse. The present clinical-historical approach has been selected not only for diachronic purposes, but also to illustrate, on epistemological grounds, the notable articulation and considerable complexity of an only apparently straightforward concept such as that of pulsus alternans. Its comprehension has undergone progress and its definition evolution, and the expression has included through time different physiologic, pathophysiologic and pathologic phenomena. Although now a century and a half old, the concept of pulsus alternans remains extremely modern and fascinating.

The development and application of the implantable cardioverter defibrillator

Several years ago, implantable defibrillators were recommended only for survivors of cardiac arrest. With improvement of surgical techniques and advancement in technology, defibrillator implantation is now considered an outpatient procedure. Clinical trials have now demonstrated improvement in survival in high risk patients who receive defibrillators which has greatly increased the number of defibrillators implanted. This manuscript reviews important features of the development of implantable defibrillators and reviews current indications for use.