Louis Nelson Katz

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‘

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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