Louis Nelson Katz • LITFL • Medical Eponym Library

Louis Nelson Katz (1897-1973) was an American cardiologist.

Widely respected for his contributions to cardiovascular physiology and clinical cardiology (over 500 journal publications of original research).

Katz played leading roles in the American Heart Association and in a large number of American and international organizations devoted to the heart and circulation

Katz is eponymously associated with Katz-Wachtel phenomenon (1937)

Biography

Born 1897 in Pinsk, Poland
1900 – Emigrated to Cleveland, United States of America
1918 – Western Reserve University (WRU), Cleveland, A.B. degree; 1921 – M.D. degree; 1923 – M.A. degree
1924-25 – Research Fellowship in the Department of Physiology, University of London, with Professor Archibald Hill (Nobel Laureate)
1924 – Elected to the American Physiological Society (APS)
1927 – Assistant Professor of Physiology, WRU
1928-30 – Consultant cardiologist St. Luke’s Hospital, Cleveland
1930 – Director of the Cardiovascular Research Department (Cardiovascular Institute) of Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago; and Assistant Professor of Physiology at the University of Chicago
1952-54 – APS Membership Advisory Committee (chairman 1953-1954)
1954-57 – Chairman of Program Advisory Committee
1957-58 – Elected 30th President of the APS
1967 – Director emeritus of the Cardiovascular Institute
Died 1973

Medical Eponyms

Katz-Wachtel phenomenon (1937)

Large biphasic RS complexes in V2-5. This is the classic ECG pattern of Biventricular Hypertrophy, most commonly seen in children with ventricular septal defect (VSD)

Katz and Wachtel suggested that large diphasic complexes in the standard limb leads were pathognomnic of congenital heart disease. They proposed that the QRS contour may represent combined right and left ventricular ‘strain‘

Katz-Wachtel phenomenon Biventricular hypertrophy in a child with VSD — Katz-Wachtel phenomenon

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Key Medical Attributions

Over 500 publications of original research across a wide range of cardiology, including electrophysiology, hypertension, haemodynamics, cardiovascular metabolism, experimental atherosclerosis, pharmacodynamics, respiration, cardiovascular anatomy and pathology, and psychosomatic and epidemiologic aspects of heart disease
Major roles in numerous associations, including: International Society of Cardiology (1962), Inter-American Society of Cardiology (1948), American Physiological Society (1957), American Society for the Study of Arteriosclerosis (1954), Chicago Heart Association, and American Heart Association (1942)

Major Publications

Katz LN, Wachtel H. The diphasic QRS type of electrocardiogram in congenital heart disease. Am Heart J. 1937; 13: 202-206.
Katz LN. Physiology and physiologists: a swan song. Physiologist. 1958;1(5): 18-25
Katz LN. Pick A. Clinical electrocardiography. Philadelphia : Lea & Febiger, 1956
Katz LN, Stamler J. Experimental Atherosclerosis. Southern Medical Journal. 1954:47;1218.

References

Hellerstein HK. Louis Nelson Katz (1897-1973): an appreciative profile. Clin Cardiol. 1986 Sep;9(9):470-4. [PMID 3530573]
Weisse AB. Remembering Louis N. Katz, MD (1897-1973) Circulation. 1998;97(14):1338-9. [PMID 9577942]
Fenn WO. History of the American Physiological Society: The Third Quarter Century, 1937-1962. American Physiological Society. 1963: 42-43.
Cadogan M. History of the Electrocardiogram. LITFL