Will C. Sealy, MD: the father of arrhythmia surgery--the story of the fisherman with a fast pulse.

Abstract

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.