Andreas Grüntzig's balloon catheter for angioplasty of peripheral arteries (PTA) is 25 years old.
History of Andreas Grüntzig's time spent in Angiology and Radiology of the Zürich University Hospital (1969-1975). First, the pioneer of catheter therapy discovered that the Achilles tendon reflex is significantly prolonged during claudication pain. Furthermore, he participated actively in the clinical evaluation of Doppler ultrasound. After a stay in the Aggertalklinik (Engelskirchen near Köln, Germany), where he learnt Charles Dotter's original procedure with Eberhard Zeitler, he introduced catheter therapy of peripheral arteries in Zürich. In the same period he developed a new, rigid, sausage-shaped balloon catheter (polyvinylchloride), manufactured the device on his kitchen table together with his wife Michaela, Maria and Walter Schlumpf, and used it first on February 12, 1974 in a patient with intermittent claudication due to subtotal stenosis of the superficial femoral artery. The first successful dilatation of an iliac artery stenosis by his double-lumen catheter, which was modified later on into the famous coronary catheter, followed on January 23, 1975. Soon, the innovative catheter became commercially available (Cook and Schneider Companies). Andreas Grüntzig not only excelled in pioneering novel techniques, but also in patient care, in a prospective follow-up study of his own 242 patients lasting 15 years (results summarized in this article), in the teaching of Swiss scholars like Felix Mahler, Ernst Schneider and Bernhard Meier and many more in the world, and in organizing life demonstrations for large numbers of participants. His career in Cardiology, his work in Atlanta Georgia, USA, and his early tragic death in an airplane accident are briefly mentioned.
Bollinger
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A
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Zürich, Stäfa.
Schlumpf
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D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon / Q000266:history*; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000266:history*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D013557:Switzerland