Short abstract
Cardiologist who devised the first pacemaker that allowed near-normal exercise capacity
Tony Rickards was one of the most productive innovators in the international world of cardiology. In the 1980s he devised and implanted the first pacemakers that were physiologically adaptable and allowed near-normal exercise capacity. For the previous 30 years, pacemakers had demanded that their wearers live a sedentary life; this, along with underfunding and conservatism, contributed to their under-use in the United Kingdom. Around 50% of all world pacemakers now use technology that is derived from the technology that Tony Rickards invented. This represents significantly improved treatment for about 100 000 patients every year. About 250 000 patients around the world carry pacemaker identity cards originally designed by him.
The computer systems and datasets Tony Rickards created to analyse heart function are in widespread use. In 1980 he was the first person in the UK to perform a successful coronary angioplasty, and eight years later implanted the first coronary stent. His most recent invention, which is already in use, was a mobile phone with which a patient could record an electrocardiogram when a problem arose, and transmit it to a specialist centre for immediate diagnosis. In the last few years he was heavily involved in developing and teaching interventional techniques for treating heart disease.
He published more than 300 papers, contributing to almost every branch of cardiology, including basic physiology, coronary artery disease, mitral and aortic valve disease, arrythmias, drug therapy, stress testing, angioplasty, echocardiography, image and waveform processing, and the use of lasers. In addition to his clinical, teaching, and research commitments he served on dozens of committees and advised governments.
Figure 1.
He was chairman of the Central Cardiac Audit Database, which he co-founded. This is responsible for collecting data relevant to cardiac events—admissions for myocardial infarction, coronary interventions, and adult and paediatric cardiac surgery—from hospitals in England and Wales.
Tony Rickards was born in Lancaster in 1945, the son of a pathologist. At age 17 he spent a year at Grenoble University before entering the Middlesex Hospital Medical School at the age of 18. He graduated in 1963 and did house jobs at the Middlesex, Central Middlesex, National Heart, and Brompton Hospitals under some of the great names in thoracic surgery and cardiology. After registrar, lectureship, and fellowship jobs he was appointed consultant cardiologist at the Royal Brompton and National Heart and Chest Hospitals at the age of 29.
He had an immense appetite for life and loved gadgetry of all sorts, especially cars and boats. He was a master sailor and navigator and had sailed with his wife across the Channel and along to Brittany in thick fog long before the days of satellite navigation.
He leaves a wife, Trisha, and two daughters. There will be a memorial service at 2 30 pm on 14 September at the Spanish Church in Marylebone, London.
Anthony Francis Rickards, consultant cardiologist Royal Brompton and National Heart and Chest Hospitals 1975-2004 (b Lancaster 1945;q Middlesex Hospital, London, 1968; FACC, FRCP, FESC), d 28 May 2004.