History of the International Congress on Electrocardiology – the Polish Contribution

Józef Jagielski, Malgorzata Sobieszczanska

Department of Pathophysiology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland

Correspondence: J Jagielski, Dept. of Pathophysiology, Wroclaw Medical University, Marcinkowskiego 1, 50-368 Wroclaw, Poland.
E-mail: msob@patfiz.am.wroc.pl, phone +48 71 784 12 45, fax +48 71 784 00 61

In 2003, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the historical decision, proclaimed in Yerevan (Armenia) during the II International Symposium on Electrocardiology in the presence of, among others, Professors Hugon Kowarzyk, Józef Jagielski, Peter Macfarlane and Pierre Rijlandt, that from 1973 onwards, the meetings on vectorcardiography would proceed triennially as World Congresses on Electrocardiology with International Symposia on Electrocardiology being held in the intervening years.

The Polish Contribution to the International Congress on Electrocardiology dates back to 1959, when Professors Hugon and Zofia Kowarzyk, inspired by Professor Pierre Rijlant, organized in Wroclaw (Poland) the first international meeting on vectorcardiography, which attracted physicians, engineers, mathematicians and physicists dealing with this topic. This meeting was followed by the courses in vectorcardiography, taking place in the Department of Pathophysiology of Wroclaw Medical University, crowned by the I Colloquium Vectorcardiographicum (1960) which was also held in Wroclaw. Poland can therefore rightfully claim to have been the birthplace of the Colloquium Vectorcardiographicum and hence the International Congresses on Electrocardiology.

Polish investigators contributed significantly to the early colloquia with Professor Kowarzyk and his wife in the forefront. They collaborated closely with many friends in Eastern Europe including Professor Ruttkay-Nedecky from Bratislava and later Professor Ernst Schubert from Berlin.

In 1968, Professors H. and Z. Kowarzyk and J. Jagielski were invited to Moscow by Professor I. Akulinichev, a pioneer of Russian vectorcardiography, whose co-worker, Professor R. Amirov, organised the next Colloquium. The anniversary, X Colloquium Vectorcardiographicum, was organised by Professors Kowarzyk and Jagielski and held in Poland in 1969. The guests were entertained in Jablonna near Warsaw, in a palace of the Polish Prince, Józef Poniatowski. The number who attended the meeting was small, around 30 people, but everyone was exceptionally knowledgeable in the field of vectorcardiography and the discussions as a consequence were at a highly detailed level.

With respect to the Polish contribution to electrocardiography, it was 1945 when Professor H. Kowarzyk recorded the first plot of a vectorcardiogram on the oscilloscopic device provided by the US army (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1.   Vectorcardiogram.	Figure 2.   Axonocardiograms.

Then, in 1957, Professor Kowarzyk constructed an original apparatus named the axonocardiograph, which enabled effectively a 3-dimensional image of the spatial vectorcardiograms to be obtained (see Fig. 2 and 3). As Professor P. Rijlant used to work on the multi-electrode network based on the “chimney” model, Professor H. Kowarzyk developed for vectorcardiography the multi-electrode network called “diamentoid”, which was built on the Platonian dual figures that created a symmetric electrocardiographic space. Using this lead system, Professor Józef Jagielski further developed cardiac potential mapping in the spherical system.

Figure 3.   Professor Hugon Kowarzyk (on the left) explains the principles of the axonocardiograph’s action to Professor Józef Jagielski (photograph taken in the Department of Pathophysiology of Wroclaw Medical University - 1969).

In more recent years, in 1985, at the XII Congress of Electrocardiology in Minsk, Professor Józef Jagielski, as the successor of Professor Hugon Kowarzyk, was elected as a member of the International Council on Electrocardiology. Some years later, in 1991, Poland was the host of the XVIII International Symposium on Electrocardiology, which was held in Warsaw, being organized by Professor J. Jagielski, Dr. M. Górnicki and Dr. M. Sobieszczańska. At this Congress, the idea of founding the International Society of Electrocardiology arose, subsequently successfully realized by Professor Peter Macfarlane. The meeting in Warsaw also initiated the publication of the congress proceedings in the book series entitled “Electrocardiology”. After the Congress, the team of Professor Jagielski commenced research on body surface potential mapping in ischemic heart disease, using the Fukuda Denshi system. This work is still in progress.

In 2002, at the Congress in Montreal, a co-worker of Professor J. Jagielski, Dr. M. Sobieszczańska, became a member of the Council on Electrocardiology, which continues the Polish representation on the International Council to the succeeding generation.  

With respect to the future, the Polish contribution to the international meetings of ISE will be maintained via the XXXII International Congress on Electrocardiology, to be held, as the joint conference of ISE and ISHNE, in Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea, in 2005.