The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 58, 1228-1239, Copyright © 1994 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Will C. Sealy, MD: the father of arrhythmia surgery--the story of the fisherman with a fast pulse
WR Chitwood Jr
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, NC 27858.
The development of clinical electrophysiology and arrhythmia surgery has a
long and interesting history. On May 2, 1968, Dr. Will C. Sealy, with the
electrophysiologists at Duke University, performed the first successful
ablation of a pathway in a patient with Wolff-Parkinson- White syndrome
using an epicardial approach. Thereafter, he and his colleagues developed
improved endocardial techniques to ensure ablation of even multiple and
complex anatomic pathways. From this work the impulse to perform these
procedures spread worldwide, and a school of arrhythmia surgeons sprouted.
For these and other accomplishments, Dr. Sealy clearly became the Father of
Arrhythmia Surgery. The story is told herein.