History and personal observations of electrical cardioversion of atrial fibrillation

Electrical cardioversion of atrial fibrillation was initially very controversial. The procedure was carefully developed by Bernard Lown and his associates who experimented first on animals and then on postoperative patients using a direct-current technique targeted to avoid the vulnerable period. Their results, published in 1963, were soon accepted, and the procedure became a major therapeutic advance in the treatment of heart disease.