Elstar 1A

The Elstar 1A is a single-channel digital electrocardiograph, made in the microproduction workshop of the ICE research institute in Bucharest, where it was designed [1]. Its thermal printer (8 dots/mm) records all 12 leads, manually or automatically, for 3–10 s each, and prints the heart rate; 16 keys and a 10-character display set the speed, sensitivity, lead duration, test, calibration and 35 Hz filter, and it is protected against defibrillation (IEC 601-1) [1]. The prospectus calls it the first electrocardiograph designed and made in Romania, but a footnote of the book says that a single-channel electrocardiograph had already been made in 1958, with its electronics designed at Radio Popular and its mechanics at IOR, and used in ambulances in the 1960s [1].