Dr. Paul M. Zoll; Pioneer in Cardiac Care

Dr. Paul M. Zoll, a heart specialist whose research led to the pacemaker and the defibrillator devices that have helped millions of patients, has died at 87.

Zoll died Tuesday of respiratory arrest.

More than 45 years ago, he was credited with showing for the first time that electrical stimulation can restart human hearts. A Boston Globe story in February 1953--headlined “Three Dead Brought Back to Life”--recounted how he had restarted the hearts of three patients at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston through noninvasive electric stimulation.

Dr. Seigo Izumo, director of cardiovascular research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, called Zoll a “revolutionary” who was the first to use electricity in cardiac therapy.

Zoll’s research led to development of the electrocardiogram and helped make open-heart surgery possible, Izumo said.

In 1973, Zoll won the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award, considered the leading scientific prize in the United States, for his contributions to the treatment of heart disease.

The citation noted that Zoll’s work led to the development of the closed-chest defibrillator, which shocks the heart to restore a normal rhythm, and cardiac monitors as well as the pacemaker.

“Dr. Zoll developed the theory and technique of continuous cardiac monitoring of heart rhythm, and was the first to apply this method clinically,” it said. “The coronary care unit now found in every well-equipped hospital is a further development of this life-saving concept.” Each year, half a million people worldwide receive pacemakers to keep their hearts beating regularly.

Zoll, born in Boston, graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.

Survivors include his wife, a son and a daughter.