The International Society of Electrocardiology

The International Society of Electrocardiology (ISE), established in 1993, promotes the advancement of the science of Electrocardiology. Among others, it facilitates dissemination of new knowledge in electrocardiology, it encourages new research in the field, and sponsors the International Congresses on Electrocardiology. Formally, the ISE is a recognised charity operating under the laws of Scotland.

Society Documents

Here are all the documents that define the Society and its standards and policies.

• ISE Constitution
• ISE Consensus Document Standards
• memorandum of understanding between ISE and ISHNE concerning the ICE meetings

History of the ISE

The origin of the International Society of Electrocardiology can be traced back to what was known as the ColloqiumVectorcardiographicum, which was a relatively small conference first held in Wroclaw in Poland in 1959. The meeting was held in Eastern Europe until 1967, when it was held in Austria at which point the number of attendees increased significantly. The meeting was held in New York in 1970 and, for example, Yerevan in Armenia, in 1973. At this meeting, it was proposed to change the name of the meeting to the International Congress on Electrocardiology (ICE).

A "Permanent Programme Committee" was formed under the chairmanship of Professor Pierre Rijlant, Chairman of the World Congress of Cardiology held in Brussels in 1958, and an enlarged organising group was formed. The first ICE was held in Wiesbaden in 1974, and was attended by most of the leading electrocardiographers of the day, including Ernst Simonson and Otto Schmitt (of Schmitt Trigger fame). Thereafter, meetings continued to take place alternately in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Japan. Indeed, 350 individuals participated in the Tokyo meeting in 1982 and the Permanent Committee met the family of the Emperor of Japan on that occasion.

The term Permanent Programme Committee was felt to be unsatisfactory and in 1983 in Bratislava, the International Council on Electrocardiology was formed. A more formal committee structure was established, and Ivan Professor Ruttkay-Nedecky from Bratislava was appointed the first President, a post which could be held for two years.

Ten years later in 1993, the International Council established the International Society of Electrocardiology (ISE) and a Constitution was drawn up. ISE is now a recognised charity operating under the laws of Scotland. The 1993 meeting was therefore another milestone in the history of the group.

Meetings have continued annually until now, although more recently, there has been an agreement with the International Society for Holter and Non Invasive Electrocardiology (ISHNE) that annual meetings should be shared with each Society taking the major organising role in alternate years. The future therefore looks to be that meetings of ISE and ISHNE will be held jointly and annually.

Peter Macfarlane, July, 2021

Some sample photos can be downloaded here.

Timeline of the history of the ISE

(thanks to Sohaib Haseeb from the ISE Young Community)

• Colloquia Vectorcardiographica / International Symposia on Vectorcardiography
• International Congresses on Electrocardiology
• Satellite Symposia
• Past Presidents of the Council
• History of the ISE from 2009 (Peter Macfarlane)
• Brief History of the ISE (Peter Macfarlane)

Colloquia Vectorcardiographica/International Symposia on Vectorcardiography

1959 Wroclaw, Poland (Kowarzyk)
1960 Wroclaw, Poland (Kowarzyk)
1961 Stary Smokovec, Slovakia (Ruttkay-Nedecky)
1962 Zakopane, Poland (Kowarzyk)
1963 Liblice, Czech Republic (Laufberger)
1964 Prague, Czech Republic (Kowarzyk, Laufberger, Ruttkay-Nedecky)
1965 Leipzig, Germany (Schubert)
1966 Smolenice, Slovakia (Ruttkay-Nedecky)
1967 Wien, Austria (Wenger)
1968 Moscow, Russia (Amirov)
1969 Jablonna, Poland (Kowarzyk)
1970 New York, USA (Hoffman)
1971 Brussels, Belgium (Rijlant)
1972 Dresden, Germany (Schubert)
1973 Yerevan, Armenia (Dolabjian)

International Congresses on Electrocardiology

1974 Wiesbaden, Germany (Abel)
1975 Varna, Bulgaria (Pavlov)
1976 Brussels, Belgium (Kornreich)
1977 Balatonfured, Hungary (Antaloczy)
1978 Glasgow, United Kingdom (Macfarlane)
1979 Yalta, Russia (Amirov)
1980 Lisbon, Portugal (de Padua)
1981 Budapest, Hungary (Antaloczy)
1982 Tokyo, Japan (Ueda)
1983 Bratislava, Slovakia (Ruttkay-Nedecký)
1984 Caen, France (d'Alche)
1985 Minsk, Belorussia (Sidorenko, Amirov)
1986 Washington, USA (Rios)
1987 Berlin, Germany (Schubert)
1988 Wiesbaden, Germany (Abel)
1989 Budapest, Hungary (Antaloczy)
1990 Florence, Italy (Taccardi)
1991 Warsaw, Poland (Jagielski)
1992 Lisbon, Portugal (de Padua)
1993 Kananaskis, Canada (Rautaharju)
1994 Yokohama, Japan (Harumi)
1995 Nijmegen, The Netherlands (van Oosterom)
1996 Cleveland, USA (Liebman)
1997 Bratislava, Slovakia (Bacharova)
1998 Budapest, Hungary (Preda)
1999 Syktyvkar, Russia (Roshchevsky)
2000 Milano, Italy (Luigi de Ambroggi)
2001 Guaruja, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Carlos Pastore)
2002 Montreal, Canada (Réginald Nadeau and Ramesh Gulrajani)
2003 Helsinki, Finland (Jaakko Malmivuo)
2004 Kyoto, Japan (Hiraoka)
2005 Gdansk, Poland (Wojciech Zareba and Ryszard Piotrowicz)
2006 Cologne, Germany (Konrad Brockmeier)
2007 Istanbul, Turkey (Bülent Görenek)
2008 St. Petersburg, Russia (Michail P. Roshchevsky)
2009 Wroclaw, Poland (Malgorzata Sobieszcza and Józef Jagielski)
2010 Lund, Sweden (Pyotr Platonov and Leif Sörnmo)
2011 Kingston, Canada (Adrian Baranchuk)
2012 Beijing, China (Hu Shengshou)
2013 Glasgow, Scotland (Peter Macfarlane)
2014 Bratislava, Slovakia (Milan Tysler)
2015 Comandatuba, Bahia, Brazil (Carlos Pastore))
2016 Palma de Mallorca, Spain (Miguel Fiol)
2017 Portland, Oregon, USA (Larisa Tereshchenko)  (first joint ISE/ISHNE meeting)
2018 Chiba City, Japan (Takanori Ikeda)
2019 Belgrade, Serbia (Branislav Milovanovic)
2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19
2021 Virtual due to COVID-19 (Kurpesa, Szafran, Cygankiewicz)
2023 Sapporo, Japan (Takanori Ikeda)

Satellite Symposia

1969 Katowice, Poland (Gibinski)
1970 Smolenice, Slovakia (Ruttkay-Nedecky)
1971 Brussels, Belgium (Rijlant)
1971 Baden, Austria (Rijlant)
1973 Berlin, Germany (Schubert)
1976 Smolenice, Slovakia (Kneppo)
1979 Syktyvkar, Russia (Roshchevsky)
1980 Dresden, Germany (Schubert)
1982 Tokyo, Japan (Yamada)
1985 Nijmegen, The Netherland (van Dam)
1990 Stara Lesna, Slovakia (Kneppo)
1993 Smolenice, Slovakia (Ruttkay-Nedecky)
1996 Smolenice, Slovakia (Szathmary)
2000 International Summer School in Electrocardiology, Slovakia (Bacharova)

Past Presidents of the Council

1983 P. Rijlant
1983 – 1985 I. Ruttkay-Nedecky
1985 – 1987 Th. van Dam
1987 – 1989 E. Schubert
1989 – 1991 B. Taccardi
1991 – 1993 R. Amirov
1993 – 1995 F. de Padua
1995 – 1997 R. Selvester
1997 – 1999 L. Bacharova
1999 – 2001 K. Harumi
2001 – 2003 J. Liebman
2003 – 2005 L. De Ambroggi
2005 – 2007 I. Preda
2007 – 2009 P. W. Macfarlane
2009 – 2011 A. van Oosterom
2011 – 2013 Masayasu Hiraoka
2013 – 2015 Carlos Alberto Pastore
2015 – 2017 Wojciech Zareba
2017 – 2019 Adrian Baranchuk
2019 – 2021 Antonio (Tom) Ribeiro
2021 - 2023 Bulent Gorenek