Examination couch

Examination couch with 9 drawers used by Dr Paul Wood at the Institute of Cardiology to examine patients with heart conditions, unknown maker, United Kingdom, 1950 to 1962

’All the old notes of all the old patients, with X-rays and electrocardiograms; these notes are a goldmine. They ought to be analysed. It would be a three-year job. I shall know more about hearts than most people, I shall be a heart specialist. I love hearts.’ Paul Wood

Paul Wood (1907-1962) was a heart researcher and dedicated his career to use observation, listening, hands-on examination, x-rays, ECGs and data analysis, to make cardiac diagnosis more accurate. His practice introduced cardiac physiology to the bedside.

During the Second World War, he researched ‘effort syndrome’ or ‘Da costa’s Syndrome’. From observations of over 200 cases he showed that while symptoms of effort syndrome or soldier’s heart mimic that of heart disease it’s cause is psychological.

In 1947, he performed one of the cardiac catheterizations in the United Kingdom. A long thin tube is passed though the blood vessels of a person’s groin or arm and guided to the heart. A dye is inserted and x-ray images taken of the heart.

This examination couch was used by Paul until his death in 1962. He was the first Director of the Institute of Cardiology at the University of London from 1947 onwards. In the drawers, Paul kept clinical records and patients notes as well as some medical equipment.