Early proponents of cardiac massage

Abstract

Open-chest cardiac massage in humans to treat chloroform syncope was first performed by Niehans in Berne and Langenbuch in Berlin in the late 1880s. Closed-chest cardiac massage in humans was advocated by Koenig and Maass in Göttingen in the last two decades of the 19th century. The closed technique was used in Central Europe for several decades to treat chloroform syncope.