It is only fitting that this textbook, ECG in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care, edited by Drs. Chan, Brady, Harrigan, Ornato, and Rosen, essentially commemorates the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of the electrocardiogram by Willem Einthoven in 1903. A Dutch physician and scientist, Dr. Einthoven used a string galvanometer to obtain a 3-lead ECG. Within 15 years, James Bryan Herrick, M.D., of Chicago, used the electrocardiogram to support his theory for myocardial infarction. The electrocardiogram became widely used after this demonstration of its usefulness, serving as one of the support pillars for the evolving field of Cardiology. Essentially unchanged after the expansion of the original 3-lead ECG with augmented limb and precordial leads to the 12-lead tracing used routinely in care today, the electrocardiogram is arguably the most powerful diagnostic tool available to the clinician caring for patients in the emergency setting.ECG in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care. 2005.exe
