This brief
timeline is intended to give an overview of the history of interventional
cardiology. More in-depth information can be accessed through the
links provided, as well as from the reference sources
listed at the bottom of the page.
3000 B.C. — Egyptians perform
bladder catheterizations using metal pipes.
400 B.C. — Catheters fashioned
from hollow reeds and pipes are used in cadavers to study the
function of cardiac valves.
1711 — Hales conducts the first
cardiac catheterization of a horse using brass pipes, a glass
tube and the trachea of a goose.
1844 — French physiologist Bernard
coins the term "cardiac catheterization" and uses catheters to
record intracardiac pressures in animals.
1941 — Cournand and Richards
employ the cardiac catheter as a diagnostic tool for the first
time, utilizing catheter techniques to measure cardiac output.
1956 — Forssmann, Cournand and
Richards share the Nobel Prize. Cournand states in his acceptance
speech "the cardiac catheter was...the key in the lock."
1958 — The diagnostic coronary
angiogram — the key to selective imaging of the heart is discovered
by Dr. Mason Sones
1964 — Transluminal Angioplasty,
the concept of remodeling the artery, is introduced by
Dr. Charles T. Dotter
1967 — Dr. Rene Favaloro conducts
first saphenous vein graft (bypass) surgery in Cleveland
1967 — Introduction of the Judkins
Technique of coronary angiography
1974 — Andreas
Gruentzig performs first peripheral human balloon angioplasty
1976 — Gruentzig
presents results of animal studies of coronary angioplasty at
American Heart Association meeting
1977 — First
human coronary balloon angioplasty performed intraoperatively
by Gruentzig, Myler
and Hanna in San Francisco
1977 — Andreas
Gruentzig performs first cath lab PTCA on awake patient in
Zurich; starting with this case, all PTCA data is entered into
a worldwide registry
1978 — First PTCA cases performed
in America by Myler in San Francisco and Stertzer in New York;
Gruentzig conducts first
demonstration course in Zurich, Switzerland, attended by 28 pioneering
physicians; International Dilatation Society is established
1980 — Gruentzig
conducts the last of five demonstration courses in Zurich with
Sones, Judkins and Dotter in attendance; he then moves to Atlanta,
GA where be becomes Director of Interventional Cardiology at Emory
University; National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute begins support
of the existing PTCA registry; first 1000 angioplasties are performed
worldwide; guiding catheters are introduced
1982 — over-the-wire coaxial
balloon systems introduced, brachial guiding catheters & steerable
guide wires are developed
1985 — A year of loss in the
history of interventional medicine: Dotter, Sones, Judkins and
Gruentzig all pass away within nine months of each other
1986 — coronary atherectomy devices
are introduced
1987 — first use of coronary
stents in humans is reported
1987-1993 — a large number of
new interventional devices are invented and perfected; some, like
lasers, are less effective than hoped for; others are approved
and used worldwide; these devices include rotational atherectomy
devices (Rotablator), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and stents
1993-1997 — stents become commonplace
and eliminate many complications
1997 — over one million angioplasties
will be performed worldwide, making angioplasty the most common
medical intervention in the world
2001 — almost two million angioplasties
were performed worldwide, with an estimated increase of 8% annually
2002 — the 25th anniversary of
the first angioplasty performed in an awake patient
References— For further information on the history of
PTCA, we recommend the following articles:
Mueller R. and Sanborn
T.
The History of Interventional
Cardiology,Am Heart J 1995;129:146-72
Myler R., Stertzer,
S.
Coronary and Peripheral
Angioplasty: Historic Perspective,Textbook of Interventional
Cardiology (2nd Ed.) Vol. 1. Topol, E. (Ed.) WB Saunders Co.,
Philadelphia,1993
King, S.B.
Angioplasty From
Bench to Bedside to Bench, Circulation 1996;93:1621-1629
