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Clin. Cardiol. 23, 631–632 (2000)

Profiles in Cardiology

This section edited by J. Willis Hurst, M.D., and W. Bruce Fye, M.D., M.A.

David Scherf

Paul Schweitzer, M.D.

Heart Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York, USA

Fig. 1 David Scherf, M.D., 1899–1977. Photograph courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

David Scherf (1899–1977) (Fig. 1) was born in an eastern province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in a small town which, during World War I, was temporarily occupied by the Russian Army. As soon as the Austrians liberated the town, Scherf's mother took her two children for a long trip over the Carpathian Mountains through Hungary into Vienna. After finishing high school, Scherf studied medicine at the Medical Faculty of Vienna from which he graduated in 1922.1 As a young physician, he joined the Department of Medicine headed by Wenckebach. The rise of fascism in Germany and Austria forced Scherf to leave Wenkebach's Department of Medicine, and for a short period he worked in the Department of Medicine at the Rothschild Hospital in Vienna. Because of worsening of the political tension, Scherf immigrated to the United States and settled in New York. Here he was offered a position as Chief of Cardiology at the New York Medical College were he stayed for almost 30 years until his retirement.

Before and after World War I, the Medical School of Vienna was one of the leading institutions in Europe. According to Cohen2 who became Scherf's co-worker in New York: "Patients from all over the world came to have the diagnosis made by Skoda and to have it proved correct by Rokytansky at autopsy."2 In addition to Wenckebach, other early pioneers of the Viennese School of cardiology were Rothberger, Winterberg, Eppinger, and Kaufman, whose classic studies of the intraventricular conduction system, extrasystoles, and parasystole are well know and quoted.3

Scherf is best known for his clinical and experimental research of electrocardiography (ECG) and arrhythmias. Among his early work were studies of atrioventricular (AV) junctional rhythm after clamping off the sinus node, and the documentation of AV junctional reentry following atrial and ventricular premature beats, which led to the concept of longitudinal dissociation of the AV junction.4 Scherf and his co-workers were the first to describe Wenckebach periodicity within the bundle branches. In 1932, shortly after the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome was reported, Holzman and Scherf5 suggested that the short PR interval and the delta wave were most likely due to conduction through the Kent bundle. Because information regarding the existence of the accessory pathways in humans was lacking, Holzman and Scherf urged others to look for accessory connections in humans. Eleven years later, Wood and co-workers6 confirmed a right accessory pathway in a patient with preexcitation syndrome. While still in Vienna, Goldhammer and Scherf7 were among the first who reported the effect of exercise on the ST segment in patients with angina pectoris. After immigrating to the United States, Scherf continued his clinical and experimental research. Among his research interests were ECG changes during hyperventilation, orthostasis, and severe hemorrhage.1 Furthermore, using aconitine, he suggested that atrial fibrillation could be due to an ectopic focus. Early in his carrier, Scherf became interested in parasystole, which remained one of his favored subjects throughout his whole life.8 In the 1920s, Scherf studied barium-induced parasystolic rhythms and later he and his co-workers were among the first to describe intermittent parasystole. Scherf retired before introduction of invasive clinical electrophysiology, which confirmed some of his experimental observations, particularly longitudinal AV junctional dissociation and ectopic origin of atrial fibrillation in some patients.

In addition to numerous publications, Scherf is also author and co-author of several monographs. In Vienna and in the United States he published the Textbook of Cardiology and Electrocardiography. The early German edition of this book was translated into several languages. In 1964, in cooperation with Cohen, The Atrioventricular Node and Selected Arrhythmias was published.9 This monograph deals with normal and abnormal function of the AV junction and its role in various arrhythmias. In the chapter on preexcitation syndrome, Scherf and Cohen took issue with the term "delta wave" recommended by Segers et al.,10 writing: "We can not understand why the Greek letter delta was used to denote this wave which resembles the Greek letter lambda." In 1972, in cooperation with Schott, the second edition of Extrasystoles and Allied Arrhythmias was published.8 In this book, the authors summarized their life-long experimental and clinical experiences together with a comprehensive review of the literature until 1970. Both monographs include well-written historical notes.

Scherf was one of the leading cardiologists of his time, and made everlasting contributions to the field of arrhythmias and electrocardiography. Even after his retirement, he regularly visited the New York Medical College library to keep up with advances in cardiology. Among Sherf's most important attributes was his highly critical approach to research, his unyielding devotion to principles, and his modesty which is best expressed in the first sentence of a short autobiographic note written in 1968. "Why Scherf? Others who contributed more to cardiology might better preempt this page than I."1

References

  1. Scherf D: A cardiologist remembers. Perspective Biol Med 1968;11:615–630
  2. Cohen J: In memoriam: David Scherf M.D. 1899–1977. J Electrocardiol 1978;11:101–102
  3. Fisch C: Electrocardiography of Arrhythmias. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1990
  4. Scherf D, Shookhoff C: Experimentale Untersuchungen ueber die "Umkehr-Extrasystole" (reciprocating beat). Wien Arch Inn Med 1926;12:501–514
  5. Holzman M, Scherf D: Ueber Elektrocardiogramme mit verkürzter Vorhof-Kammerdistanz und positiven P-Zacken. Ztschr Klin Med 1932;121:404–423
  6. Wood F, Wolferth C, Geckeler G: Histologic demonstration of accessory muscular connection between auricle and ventricle in a case of short P-R interval and prolonged QRS complex. Am Heart J 1943;25:454–462
  7. Goldhammer S, Scherf D: Electrokardiographische Untersuchungen bei Kranken mit Angina Pectoris ("ambulatorischer") Typus. Ztschr Klin Med 1932;22:134–151
  8. Scherf D, Schott A: Extrasystoles and Allied Arrhythmias. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publisher, 1973
  9. Scherf D, Cohen J: The Atrioventricular Node and Selected Cardiac Arrhythmias. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1964
  10. Segers P, Lequime J, Denolin H: L'activation ventriculaire précoce de certains coeurs hyperexcitables: Atude de l'onde Δ de l'electrocardiogramme. Cardiologia 1944;6:113–167

Address for reprints:
Paul Schweitzer, M.D.
Heart Institute
Beth Israel Medical Center
First Avenue at 16th Street
New York, NY 10003, USA

Received: August 18, 1999
Accepted: August 25, 1999


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