Obituary to: Philippe Coumel ? A founding father of modern arrhythmology

On March 18 2004, Philippe Coumel passed away in Paris. At that time European cardiology lost one of its most creative sons. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Philippe Coumel not only introduced the technique of programmed electrical stimulation of the heart,1 simultaneously but independent from Durrer and co-workers in Amsterdam, but also described criteria to determine the mechanisms and pathways of A–V junctional reciprocating tachycardias.1–5 By reporting findings such as: (1) the paradoxical capture; (2) prolongation of tachycardia V–A conduction times during bundle branch … *Correspondence to: Jeronimo Farre, Department of Cardiology, Servicio de Cardiologia, Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, Avda Reyes Catolicos 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Tel.: +34-91-544-1636; fax: +34-91-549-9402
 E-mail address: jfarre{at}telefonica.net