Henry Bazett

Henry Cuthbert Bazett (1885-1950) was an English physiologist.

Main area of work was the application of physiological research to clinical problems. He perfected an exact technique for studying temperature changes in circulating blood, and showed the importance of the venal comites in the pre-cooling of the arterial blood by the returning venous blood.

Eponymously affiliated with Bazett formula to calculate corrected QT interval (QTc) for varying heart rates. In 1920 Bazett related the corrected QT interval to the square root of the RR interval (the Bazett formula) independent of the relationship defined by Fridericia (1920) the duration of the QT interval was related to the cube root of the RR interval (the Fridericia formula)

Biography

• Born on June 25, 1885 in Gravesend, England
• Educated at Oxford University: BA 1908; MB BCh. 1911; MS 1913; MD 1920
• 1910 – Physiology demonstrator St Thomas’s Hospital
• 1912-1914 Radcliffe travelling Fellowship, Harvard University
• 1914-1918 Medical officer in the British Army (RAMC); Order of the British Empire (OBE); Military Cross
• 1919 – Lecturer in Physiology, Oxford University
• 1921 – Professor of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania (holding chair until his untimely death)
• 1941-1943 Visiting professor of medical research, University of Toronto (aviation research)
• 1946 – Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE)
• 1950 – President of the American Physiological Society
• Died July 11, 1950 on a ship bound for the International Physiological Congress in Copenhagen

Medical Eponyms

Bazett formula (1920)

Bazett formula ‘corrects’ the measured QT interval to a value (QTc) attributable to a heart rate of 60 bpm. Thus providing a QT interval value that a particular patient would theoretically have if their heart rate was 60 beats/min

Major Publications

• Norris GW, Bazett HC. Blood Pressure: its clinical applications. 1916
• Bazett HC. Respiratory tests for ability to stand high altitudes. Reports of the Air Medical Investigation Committee, no. 6. 1918
• Bazett HC. Observations on Changes in the Blood Pressure and Blood Volume Following Operations in Man. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, 1919
• Bazett HC. An analysis of the time-relations of electrocardiograms. Heart. 1920;7:353-70.
• Bazett HC, Corbett CDH. A Study of the reaction of pilots and observers to diminished oxygen-pressure. 1920
• Bazett HC, McGlone B. Studies in sensation. III, Chemical factor in the stimulation of end-organ giving temperature sensations. 1932

References

Biography

• Obituary: H.C. Bazett. Br Med J 1950;2:220
• Obituary: Henry Cuthbert Bazett. The Lancet, 1950; 256(6625): 309
• Edholm OG. Prof. H. C. Bazett. Nature. 1950; 166(4231): 933-934
• Henry Cuthbert Bazett. 22nd APS President (1950). American Physiological Society
• Biography: Bazett, Henry Cuthbert (1885 – 1950). Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows Online. Royal College of Surgeons of England.
• Bibliography. Bazett, H. C. (Henry Cuthbert). WorldCat Identities

Eponymous terms

• Roguin A. Henry Cuthbert Bazett (1885-1950)–the man behind the QT interval correction formula. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 2011; 34(3): 384-388
• Burns E. The QT Interval. LITFL
• Cadogan M. History of the Electrocardiogram. LITFL 2020

Mike Cadogan

Associate Professor Curtin Medical School, Curtin University. Emergency physician MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.  Passion for rugby; medical history; medical education; and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | Eponyms | Books | Twitter |