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Louis Wolff

Louis Wolff (1898 – 1972)

Louis Wolff (1898 – 1972) was an American cardiologist.

Eponymously remembered in association with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, first described in 1930.

Key interests in coronary artery disease; paroxysmal tachyarrhythmias; electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic diagnosis of myocardial infarction and the influence of bypass tracts on the diagnosis.

Biography
  • 1898 – Born 14 April in Boston
  • 1918 – Graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, majored in biology and public health
  • 1922 – Medical degree, Harvard Medical School
  • 1922 – 1924 Intern, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • 1928 – 1964 Chief of the Electrocardiographic Laboratory at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston
  • President of the New England Cardiovascular Society
  • Clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School
  • 1950 – Published book ‘Electrocardiography. Fundamentals and Clinical Application’. WB Saunders, Philadelphia
  • 1972 – Died 28 January of Parkinson’s disease
Medical Eponyms

Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome (1930) is a combination of the presence of a congenital accessory pathway and episodes of tachyarrhythmia. When recognised in 1930 during a case study of 11 patients, it was first described as:

Functional bundle-branch block and abnormally short P-R interval, occurring mostly in otherwise healthy young people with paroxysms of tachycardia or of auricular fibrillation

Wolff L, Parkinson J, White PD 
Controversies
  • Wolff didn’t meet Parkinson until 24 years later at the Second World Congress of Cardiology in 1954
Major Publications
References

BA MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM. Emergency physician, 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 |

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