Transluminal recanalization for arterial obstruction in the legs. Indication and results based on a series of 175 treated cases

Balloon Angioplasty – The Legacy of Andreas Grüntzig, M.D. (1939–1985)

“…This movie was to play an important role in the friendship that later developed between Dotter and Grüntzig and will be further discussed below. It is noteworthy that in this movie – like in his 1964 article pioneering angioplasty ( 60 ) – Dotter mentions the potential future use of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in coronary arteries ( 73 ). Only 7 years later, Andreas Grüntzig at the University of Zürich would succeed in performing the first experimental coronary balloon angioplasty on September 24, 1975 ( 74 , 75 ).…”

“…Already half a century ago ( 69 ), Dotter realized the educational value of film recordings (nowadays video recordings) ( 73 ). His 1968 training movie entitled “Transluminal Angioplasty” written, directed, and narrated by Dotter himself on how to perform the angioplasty procedure has been recently released on behalf of the 50th anniversary of its introduction to medicine ( 69 , 73 ). This movie was to play an important role in the friendship that later developed between Dotter and Grüntzig and will be further discussed below.…”

“…For the cover of his habilitation thesis, which he published as a book ( 116 ), Grüntzig selected pre- and post-interventional angiograms of a balloon catheter-treated femoral artery occlusion, which he successfully re-opened on October 27, 1975, these angiograms are shown in Figure 7 . The Grüntzig balloon angioplasty procedure became known as PTA or as “percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty” (PTCA) in cardiology ( 118 ), with reference to the terminology originally introduced by Dotter ( 60 , 64 , 73 ). Grüntzig filed a patent application on the balloon catheter concept with the U.S. Patent Office on November 21, 1977 (Figure 6 ) and simultaneously with patent offices in Switzerland, Germany, France, England, and Japan ( 26 ), securing the rights to his intellectual property of the balloon catheter principle (Figure 8 ).…”

“…The discovery of balloon angioplasty represents perhaps one of the best early examples of translational medicine in recent medical history ( 26 , 140 ). What Dotter as early as 1964 in his first article ( 60 ) and 1968 in his film ( 73 ) envisioned to be applied in patients with coronary artery disease some day, Grüntzig translated into clinical application within a little more than a decade ( 26 , 75 , 161 ).…”