Andreas Gruentzig was born in Dresden, Germany in 1939. He received his MD from Heidelberg University in 1964. In the late 60s, he learned of the angioplasty procedure developed by Charles Dotter at a lecture in Frankfurt. Because he encountered bureaucratic difficulties in Germany, he moved to Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and worked in the department of Angiology at the University Hospital of Zurich.
Gruentzig's first successful coronary angioplasty on a human was performed in 1977. He expanded a 3mm atherosclerotic lesion of the Left Anterior Descending (LAD) which was causing an 80% stenosis of its lumen.
The immediate results of the treatment, despite using a kitchen built catheter, were quite good. The patient became and remained angina free after the treatment. The initial results were rechecked 10 years later and the lumen of the LAD remained patent.
In 1976, Gruentzig was presenting his animal research at a meeting in Miami where he met Dr. Spencer King, a cardiologist from Emory University. In 1980, Dr. King visited Gruentzig in Zurich and convinced him to join Emory University where the two collaborated.
Gruentzig presented the results of the first four cases at the 1977 American Heart Association meeting, which led to the widespread acknowledgement of his pioneering work.
Gruentzig contribution in the performance of percutaneous coronary angioplasty instead of a bypass remains a major breakthrough in the field of medicine.
Gruntzig an instrument rated pilot and his wife died when his airplane crashed in Macon Georgia in 1985.
This post is dedicated to Dr.Konstantinos Boudoulas who is my cardiologist at Ohio State Medical Center. Dr. Boudoulas specialty is interventional cardiology. He and his colleagues continue to further develop the life saving procedure of coronary angioplasty.
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