History of cardiology

The term cardiology is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the heart and great vessels.

Ebers papyrus of ancient Egypt which had been written in the year 1552 BC mentioned about heart. It describes a relationship between heartbeat and the peripheral pulse.

Avicenna’s ((980-1037) in his Pulse Writing wrote that the heart, as the source of the arterial system, functioned with its own energy, later served for English physiologist William Harvey as a starting point for his observation of the circulatory system.

The publication of De Motu Cordis by William Harvey in 1628 is one of the major landmarks in the modern history of medicine. The modern concept of the 2 circulation dates from him.

The first writing about heart to be considered by Raymond Vieussens of Montpellier. In 1715 he published a treatise on the structure and function of the heart. The book began with a series of faces of pericardial effusion which he believed were due to heart failure.

Rontgen’s discovery of x-ray in 1890s led to improvements in the investigation of heart failure.

In 1903, Willem Einthoven had invented an electrocardiograph to translate the electrical function of the beating heart into visual tracing for easy analysis. His work is often cited as the beginning of modern cardiology.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, heart failure associated with fluid retention was treated with Southey’s tubes, which were inserted into edematous peripheries, allowing some drainage of fluid. 

The benefits of beta-blockers were established in the 1990s and subsequently aldosterone antagonist and device therapy are becoming established treatments.
History of cardiology