The table conceals some interesting facts. It can be seen, particularly from the period 1967 onwards, that the colloquium was held sometimes in Western Europe or in North America and sometimes in Eastern Europe. The political map at the time, as is well known, had the so called "Iron Curtain" in place between Eastern and Western Europe so that it was not always easy for participants to attend the colloquia every year. Nevertheless, those in Eastern Europe were always very grateful for the support from those who traveled from the West while in return, meetings in the West afforded colleagues from Eastern Europe the very significant opportunity to experience scientific exchange in a different environment.

In 1972, following an earlier suggestion of Professor Zaven Dolabjian from Yerevan, the colloquium had its name changed to Symposium on Electrocardiology, which reflected the broadening of interest of the meeting. In the following year, it was suggested somewhat ambitiously that the International Symposium on Electrocardiology should change its name to the World Congress on Electrocardiology. The original resolution of the Program Committee can be seen in Fig 1. However, the more modest title of International Congress on Electrocardiology was subsequently adopted.

Figure 1.   The resolution signed in Yerevan, Armenia in September 1973 suggesting the change of name of the International Symposium on Electrocardiology to International (or even World !) Congress on Electrocardiology.

I can say from a personal point of view that the opportunity to travel to the various cities where the Colloquium Vectorcardiographicum was held was a wonderful bonus on top of the actual science. Most participants would have their own stories to tell in relation to their experiences of traveling and participating in the colloquia.

By and large, the colloquia were usually held with English as the main language but certainly in Vienna in 1967, for example, many papers were presented in German. This author then studied the language for one year on the basis that it was going to be necessary to understand German in order to enhance attendance at this meeting. However, every colloquium (and congress) thereafter was held in English!

There were many difficulties because it was not always easy for Eastern Europeans to obtain financial support, not only for travel but for subsistence, when participating in a meeting in the West and often the organizers had to do their utmost to find adequate financial support. However, there was a tremendous bond of friendship between all of those who participated in the meetings at that time.

Scientifically, there was a very high level of presentation of research as this was one of the few groups worldwide that had a major interest in electrocardiography. Not many cardiologists nowadays have the breadth of understanding of electrocardiography that the participants in the colloquia had.

PART II:1974 – 2003

The first International Congress on Electrocardiology was held in Wiesbaden in 1974 and every year since then, there has been an International Congress. Occasionally, the Congress has been combined with the meeting of another society such as in 2002 in Montreal when there was a joint meeting with the International Society of Bioelectromagnetism. In addition, there have been sessions organized by the International Society of Computerized Electrocardiology as in Poland in 1991 and more frequently by the International Society for Holter and Non Invasive Electrocardiology. From 1974 – 1982, there was always an annual meeting of the Program Committee (see Figure 2) to plan ahead.

Figure 2.   Some of the “Permanent” or Program Committee meeting in Lisbon, 1981. (L-R) Taccardi, Arsenescu, Harumi, Pipberger, Macfarlane, Ruttkay-Nedecky, D’Alche.

From the period 1969 to 1993 a number of satellite symposia were held. On occasions this was to enable those in the East who had difficulty in traveling to the West to meet together in order to maintain their interests in the topic. On other occasions, the satellite symposia dealt with a specific topic such as body surface mapping. Details can be found in an earlier review of the history of the congresses [Ruttkay-Nedecky and Macfarlane, 1994].

In terms of location, the congress continued to rotate between Eastern Europe (see Figure 3 for example) and the West until the 1990's when consecutive conferences in the West were held from 1992 until 1996. Table 2 shows a list of locations and organizers. The Iron Curtain had effectively fallen in late 1989 and indeed the meeting that year in Budapest was notable for the fact that many refugees were fleeing from Eastern Germany into Hungary and staying very close the conference site.

Figure 3.   Opening ceremony at the Minsk congress in 1985.

In 1982, the Congress was held in Japan marking the first time that the Far East had hosted such a meeting. There is very significant interest in electrocardiology in that part of the world as described elsewhere [Hiraoka, 2003]. Indeed, the Young Investigator’s Award at the annual congress was recently named in memory of the late Professor Kenichi Harumi, a former President of the Council from Tokyo, who died recently.

The structure of the congresses had always been somewhat informal as Professor Rijlant, who was the father of the Congress, preferred not to have too formal an organizational structure. In 1974, at the first congress, it was decided to form a so-called Permanent Committee, which met annually (see Figure 4) but at that time there was no secretary or president. Eventually, it was thought that the term Permanent Committee was inappropriate and in 1983 at the 10th International Congress in Bratislava, following the death of Professor Rijlant, the International Council on Electrocardiology was formed. This allowed the creation of a more formal committee structure with a president. The first president of the society fittingly was Ruttkay Nedecky who had participated in the first colloquium vectorcardiographicum in 1960.

Table 2 shows the locations of all of the congresses from 1974 until the present. Table 3 shows the list of presidents of the Council from 1983 until the present.

There was always a first class social programme associated with every meeting, reflecting the local culture and traditions. Many spouses and partners of delegates who attended the meetings also participated in separate accompanying persons programs and often saw more of the local environment than did the delegates! Many friendships sprung up across the globe and are still in existence today. Sadly, not all of those who attended earlier meetings are still alive today and many great figures no longer grace the congresses with their presence.

Table 2.    Congresses 1974-2003
CV= Colloquium Vectorcardiographicum, ICE = International Congress of Electrocardiology

Figure 4.   Council members present in Budapest, 1981. Back (L-R): Taccardi, Macfarlane, Dolabjian, Arsenescu, Ruttkay-Nedecky, Abel, de Padua, Harumi. Front (L-R): Schubert, Wenger, Amirov, Rijlant, Antaloczy, Ueda, van Dam.

Table 3. Presidents of the International Council on Electrocardiology

The next stage in the evolution of the congresses was to create an International Society. A constitution was established under the laws of Scotland and approved by participants of the 1993 meeting in Kananaskis in Alberta. The constitution allowed for individuals to become members of the society for payment of a small fee. It allowed Office Bearers to be elected and it also meant that annual business meetings of the Society had to be held at each Congress. This is still the case today.

Figure 5.   Delegates to the Lisbon meeting in 1992 enjoy an evening at the Casino in Estoril.

The Future

There are many large international congresses nowadays, including for example the AHA annual meeting which attracts the order of 25,000 participants. On the other hand, in such meetings it is often difficult to find more than one session dealing with electrocardiography. The history of the International Society of Electrocardiology has spanned over 40 years, and there have been many major advances in this period, including developments at the molecular level leading to some understanding, for example, of the genetic basis of the long QT syndrome through to cardiac transplantation at the other end of the scale. Nevertheless, the 12-lead ECG and some would say the vectorcardiogram, still have a fundamental role to play in cardiology as it is practised today. There therefore remains the need for a forum where enthusiasts in the field can meet to discuss their latest research and to socialize (Fig. 5). To this end, plans for the 2004 meeting in Kyoto in Japan are well in hand and proposals for the 2005 meeting in Poland are also being elaborated. No-one knows what the future holds but there would appear to be enough enthusiasm to ensure that the 50^th Colloquium Vectorcardiographicum / 36^th International Congress on Electrocardiology in 2009 will be a target that should be attainable.

References

1. Ruttkay-Nedecky, Bacharova L. The history of the international society of electrocardiology – the Czechslovakian contribution. Int J Bioelectromagnetism, 5, 1, 2003.

2. Jagielski J, Sobieszczanska M. The history of the international society of electrocardiology – the Polish contribution. Int J Bioelectromagnetism, 5, 1, 2003.

3. Ruttkay-Nedecky I, Macfarlane PW. The history of the international congress on electrocardiology. In: Macfarlane PW, Rautaharju P (eds). Electrocardiology 93. Singapore, World Scientific, 1994, 10-20.

4. Hiraoka M. The history of the international society of electrocardiology – the Japanese contribution. Int J Bioelectromagnetism, 5, 1, 2003.