Implantable defibrillators: 30 years of history

The first concept of an implantable defibrillator was published in 1970 by Dr. Michel Mirowski and his colleague and friend Dr. Morton Mower. Within 30 years implantable defibrillator therapy has gone through a breathtaking development. However, it started with a vision and a concept of one man, who went through difficult times, personally, and in his intention to make his idea of a device that prevents sudden death come true. As with other innovative approaches in medicine, in the beginning there were more opponents than supporters of the concept. Device technology has impressively improved, but the principal concept remained the same: automatic shock delivery to a fibrillating heart by an implanted defibrillator will restore normal heart rhythm and save the life of the patient.