Maurice Lev

Biography

• 1908 – Born November 13 in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Russian immigrant parents
• 1916 – Lost his mother at age 8; raised in New York by his grandfather, a rabbi
• 1930 – Completed B.S. degree at New York University
• 1934 – Received M.D. from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
• 1935–1940 – Residency in pathology at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago
• 1941 – Became Diplomat in Pathologic Anatomy
• 1942–1946 – Served in the U.S. Army; rose to Lieutenant Colonel and commanded the Fourth Medical Laboratory in the European Theater
• 1943 – Became Diplomat in Clinical Pathology
• 1946–1947 – Assistant Professor of Pathology, Creighton University
• 1947–1951 – Instructor (1947), Assistant Professor (1947–1948), and Associate Professor (1948–1951) of Pathology, University of Illinois
• 1951–1957 – Director of Laboratories, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Miami Beach, Florida
• 1957–1982 – Director, Congenital Heart Disease Research and Training Center, Hektoen Institute, Chicago
• 1964 – Co-described Lenègre-Lev disease (with Jean Lenègre) [PMID 14237429]
• 1966 – Earned a Master’s in Philosophy from Northwestern University, thesis: Whitehead’s Theory of Evolution
• 1982–1988 – Director of Clinical Laboratories, Deborah Heart and Lung Center, New Jersey
• 1984 – Golden Merit Award, American Medical Association, recognizing 50 years of distinguished service
• 1988–1994 – Associate Director, Congenital Heart and Conduction System Center, Christ Hospital, Illinois; Professor of Pathology at Rush University
• 1993 – Honored at the First Maurice Lev Lectureship; received tribute from Creighton University Class of 1948
• 1994 – Final publication: Pulmonary Valve Eccentricity in D-Transposition; died February 4 in Oak Lawn, Illinois

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Medical Eponyms

Lev’s Disease and the Aging Conduction System

Maurice Lev’s pivotal work in the 1940s and 1950s established a clear pathological basis for age-related atrioventricular (AV) block. Through serial histologic sectioning of normal hearts across the lifespan, he identified fibrofatty degeneration and sclerosis in the His bundle and bundle branches, particularly on the left side of the cardiac skeleton. This progressive deterioration, occurring without underlying structural heart disease, became recognized as an idiopathic form of AV block in the elderly and was later eponymously termed Lev’s disease.

Lenègre-Lev syndrome (1964)

Acquired complete heart block. Fibrous transformation progressive and slow, of degenerative origin, of the two branches of the bundle of His, resulting in progressive conduction disorders:

• block of branch with or without hemiblock of the opposite side
• then complete, paroxysmal then permanent artroventricular (AV) block.

In parallel with French cardiologist Jean Lenègre (1904–1999), Lev independently described this sclerodegenerative process in aging hearts. Their combined findings underpin the modern understanding of Lenègre-Lev syndrome, characterized by conduction disturbances that may progress to complete heart block. Lev’s pathologic insights remain central to the diagnosis and management of bradyarrhythmias in geriatric cardiology.

1964 – Lenègre, of the Hopital Boucicaut in Paris, described progressive fibrosis of the ventricular conduction system in a series of articles published in French in the 1950s; his first and major reference in English appeared in 1964 as “Etiology and pathology of bilateral bundle branch block in relation to complete heart block“

1964 – Maurice Lev, of the University of Miami, saw a similar sclerodegenerative process, often with calcification, in an older age group publishing “Anatomic basis for atrioventricular block“

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Major Publications

• Lev M. Aging changes in the human sinoatrial node. J Gerontol. 1954 Jan;9(1):1-9.
• Lev M, Lerner R. The theory of Kent; a histologic study of the normal atrioventricular communications of the human heart. Circulation. 1955; 12(2): 176-184.
• Lev M, Unger PN. The pathology of the conduction system in acquired heart disease. I. Severe atrioventricular block. AMA Arch Pathol. 1955; 60(5): 502-529.
• Lev M, Unger PN, Lesser ME, Pick A. Pathology of the conduction system in acquired heart disease. Complete right bundle branch block. Am Heart J. 1961; 61: 593-614
• Lev M. Complete left bundle branch block: a physiologicpathologic correlation. Report of a case. Am Heart J. 1961; 61: 149-155
• Lev M. Anatomic basis for atrioventricular block. Am J Med 1964; 37: 742-748. [Lenègre-Lev disease]
• Bharati S, Dhingra RC, Lev M, Towne WD, Rhimtoola SH, Rosen KM. Conduction system in a patient with Prinzmetal’s angina and transient atrioventricular block. Am J Cardiol. 1977 Jan;39(1):120-5.
• Bharati S, Lev M. The Cardiac Conduction System in Unexplained Sudden Death. 1991
• Bharati S, Lev M, Kirklin JW. Cardiac Surgery and the Conduction System. 1992 (2e)
• Kovalchin JP, Allen HD, Cassidy SC, Lev M, Bharati S. Pulmonary valve eccentricity in d-transposition of the great arteries and implications for the arterial switch operation. Am J Cardiol. 1994 Jan 15;73(2):186-90.
• Bharati S, Lev M. The Pathology of Congenital Heart Disease: A Personal Experience With More Than 6,300 Congenitally Malformed Hearts. 1996
  

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References

Eponym

• Bharati S. Maurice lev, MD November 13, 1908 to February 4, 1994. Cardiovasc Pathol. 1994 Jul-Sep;3(3):143-5.
• Bharati S. In memoriam: Maurice Lev, MD–November 13, 1908–February 4, 1994. Am J Cardiol. 1994 Aug 1;74(3):301-2.

Eponymous terms

• Lenègre J. Moreau P. Le bloc auriculo-ventriculaire chronique. Etude anatomique, clinique et histologique. Archives des maladies du coeur et des vaisseaux. 1963;56: 867-888.
• Lenègre J. Etiology and pathology of bilateral bundle branch block in relation to complete heart block. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 1964;6:409-444. 
• Kusumoto FM et al. 2018 ACC/AHA/HRS Guideline on the Evaluation and Management of Patients With Bradycardia and Cardiac Conduction Delay: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019 Aug 20;74(7):e51-e156.
• Carius BM, Long B, Schauer S. Lev’s Syndrome: A rare case of progressive cardiac conduction disorder presenting to the emergency department. Am J Emerg Med. 2019 May;37(5):1006.e1-1006.e4.