Medical device history (cardiology): Identify Dr. Paul Zoll's 1952 invention in Massachusetts. Full question: What did cardiologist Dr. Paul Zoll invent in 1952 in Massachusetts—an innovation used to maintain a patient's heart rhythm noninvasively? Choose the correct option.
General Knowledge
Inventions
Difficulty: Easy
Choose an option
Answer
Correct Answer: External cardiac pacemaker (noninvasive transthoracic pacing)
Explanation
Given data
- Year and place: 1952, Massachusetts.
- Inventor: Dr. Paul Zoll (cardiologist).
- Domain: Devices to manage cardiac rhythm.
Concept/Approach Zoll pioneered external transthoracic cardiac pacing, applying electrical impulses through chest electrodes to maintain heart rate—decades before fully implantable pacemakers became routine.
Why other options are incorrect ICD: implantable defibrillators arrived later. Coronary stent: 1980s innovation. Heart-lung machine: developed by Gibbon and others earlier in the 1950s, but not Zoll's 1952 Massachusetts milestone.
Final Answer External cardiac pacemaker (noninvasive transthoracic pacing).