Further information: The Work of Barouh Berkovits.

Biography

Barouh V. Berkovits born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, educated at Charles University, emigrated to Israel in 1949 and then to the United States in 1956 where he became Senior Engineer at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. In 1959 he joined the American Optical Corporation as the Director of Cardiovascular Research, a post which he held until 1975 when he joined Medtronic, Inc. until retirement 1993. With participation in industrial research and development he became a major force in cardiology.

In 1960 he patented the Direct Current (DC) defibrillator which proved to be more technically feasible than AC. Following clinical evaluation, DC shock and synchronized cardioversion, also his invention, became the dominant technology for the closed chest termination of ventricular tachycardia and of ventricular and atrial fibrillation. The cardioverter, which sensed cardiac activity, timed and synchronized delivery of a shock to the non-vulnerable period of the cardiac cycle, avoiding the complication of arrhythmia acceleration. This technology eventually became the forerunner of all future cardioverter-defibrillators, whether external for emergency use, or implantable.

In 1963 he invented the demand pacemaker, which responded to a spontaneous ventricular beat by inhibiting its output for a single cardiac cycle while awaiting resumption of a spontaneous rhythm or continuing stimulation at a physiologic rate. This was first an external device to be used with endocardial or epicardial wire pacing and then by an implanted unit. All clinical cardiac pacemakers eventually adopted or adapted this approach to cardiac stimulation. The demand (VVI) pacemaker, both as external and implanted, has become the most widely used.

In 1970, believing that the restoration of the normal AV sequence was of overriding importance, he introduced the Bifocal Demand (DVI) dual chamber pacemaker by combining atrial stimulation without sensing with a ventricular demand pacemaker. An extensive line of monitor-defibrillators and external and implantable pacemakers based on DC cardioversion defibrillation and demand and Bifocal pacing was soon introduced. Similar, successor units from many manufacturers are now standard.

He cooperated closely with physicians involved with the management of complex arrhythmias. His published papers and presentations reflect this activity. His main focus concentrated on the investigation of tachyarrhythmia management. In 1977 he invented a biventricular pacemaker to stimulate the right and left ventricles simultaneously to manage ventricular tachycardias, a technique now being widely reevaluated for the management of heart failure. He is the holder of thirty-six patents in cardiac pacing techniques, including specialized atrial leads, single leads for pacing and sensing atrium and ventricle, connectors, self-adapting autodecremental overdrive scanning pacers and advanced monitoring technologies. He has received many awards and citations, is an honorary member of national cardiologic societies and received the NASPE Distinguished Scientist award in 1982. He is now a consultant in cardiac pacing and arrhythmia management and is retired in Newton, MA.

Interview Excerpts

Early exploration into delivering high energy into the heart (55 sec; Real Audio)

Building the first high-energy defibrillator (24 sec; Real Audio)

Developing the first commercially available defibrillator (42 sec; Real Audio)

Breakthrough technique using defibrillators to treat patient's arrhythmias (59 sec; Real Audio)

Being drawn into pacemaker research (15 sec; Real Audio)

Involvement in improving early pacemakers (1:39 sec; Real Audio)

Using steak to develop a better pacemaker (1:22 sec; Real Audio)

Developing the strategy to use implantable defibrillators to break tachycardia (1:9 sec; Real Audio)

Excerpted from this interview:
Interviewer: Seymour Furman, MD
Date: January 21, 1996
Place: Natick, Massachusetts
Note: You will need to have the free Real Player plug-in to listen to the interviews.
Download the free RealPlayer Plug-In.