When/who documented the first application/usage of carotid sinus massage in
scientific/medical literature?

carotid sinus massage has been used for years to stop tachycardia

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 21 Feb 2006 17:41 PST

I found a 1956 mention of it.

There's no real reason to suppose it's the earliest mention, but it
may be the earliest one that's readily findable.

Do you have any sense of when you think the term might have come into use?


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by baro1-ga on 27 Feb 2006 17:15 PST

see comments below thanks

Hi baro1

The earliest direct reference I have found so far is of Heinrich Ewald Hering
in 1923 in Hering HE: Der Karotisdruckversuch. Münch Med Wschr 1923;42:
1267?1290.
Hering's work was inspired by observations on vagal nerve stimulation
by Johann Nepomuk Czermak dating to 1879. Elias Cyon and Carl Ludwig
had also done work on the baroreceptor reflex as early as 1866.
Details of this can be found in a paper, Heinrich Ewald Hering and the
Carotid Sinus Reflex. Heinz-Gerdzimmer, M.D. Clin. Cardiol. 27,
485?486 (2004).
http://www.clinicalcardiology.org/productcart/pc/briefs/0408/aug_485-486_profile_zimmer.pdf

Yes thanks both of you for your efforts. 
In answer to your question pafalafa I am aware of work done by both
Elias Cyon and Carl Ludwig in 1866 but further back I don't know as
cited by hardtofindbooks - thank you by the way for previous answer
re: mechanosensitive ion channels.

It seems to me that in eastern medicine which is at least 2000 yearss
old there is use of both acupuncture and acupressure - it would be
unlikely that they didn't recognise this site as being important for
control of heart rate at least. So I would expect earlier references.

I am following up the 1866 lead further to see if any reference here
will point me write direction.

Hi baro1

It had occurred to me that there might be some report in Eastern
medicine but I guess I incorrectly took 'scientific/medical
literature' to mean Western. I'll let you know if I can dig anything
more up.

Of course if you aren't being highly specific to the carotid sinus and
exact explanations, as far as modern understanding of baroreception
goes, you can get back to the very beginning of the 18th century and
Antonio Maria Valsalva.
"If the glottis be closed after a deep inspiration, and a strenuous
and prolonged expiratory effort be then made, such pressure can be
exerted upon the heart and intrathoracic vessels that the movement and
flow of the blood are temporarily arrested."
De aure humana tractatus. Bologna, 1704.
http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2053.html

Thanks again hardtofindbooks,
I definetly need search tips from you!)
Sorry about not including eastern medicine in my initial decription.
I'll check out Valsalva

Thanks