Sven Ivar Seldinger (1921-1998), began his medical training at the Karolinska Institute and upon graduation in 1948, he went on to specialize in radiology. It was at the Karolinska Hospital he came up with an ingenious idea on how to introduce a catheter in an artery or vein without the need of surgically exposing the vessel of entry with a cut down.
Seldinger first published his technique in 1953 in Acta Radiologica. The technique was based on introducing a guide wire through a needle that had punctured a peripheral artery such as the femoral artery leave the guide in place, remove the needle and introduce a catheter over the wire. Thus, he could catheterize any artery or vein by manipulating the catheter and the guide wire. Upon the completion of the procedure digital pressure over the puncture site produced hemostasis, obviating the need to suture or ligate the vessel of entry.
The Seldinger technique is used today for diagnostic angiography, interventional procedures, insertion of central venous catheters, insertion of chest or abdominal drainage catheters, insertion of the leads of cardiac pacemakers and many other interventional procedures.
During his lifetime he received numerous awards from American, Swedish and German medical and radiological societies for his technique that made diagnostic and interventional procedures widely available thus he revolutionized medicine at large. In 1984 Seldinger received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at Uppsala University in Sweden.
