The introduction of closed chest cardiac massage.

The introduction of closed chest cardiac massage by Dr William Kouwenhoven and associates has markedly changed the outcome of patients with cardiac arrest. The fortuitous discovery of the simple yet ingenious concept of closed cardiac massage has saved countless lives. In fact the manuscript published by Kouwenhoven and colleagues has been touted "to have resulted in saving more lives than any other medical manuscript during the past century." Although newer techniques and methods of cardiac resuscitation have been developed, their successes will be measured against the technique described by Kouwenhoven and colleagues.