Andreas R. Gruentzig, 1939-1985, was a German radiologist who first developed successful angioplasty for expanding lumens of narrowed arteries. His first successful angioplasty treatment on a human was performed in 1977, in Zurich, Switzerland. He expanded a short, about 3 mm, non-branching section of the LAD (Left Anterior Descending) artery (the front branch of the left coronary artery) which supplies the front wall and tip of the heart, aee coronary circulation, which had a high grade stenosis, about 80%, of the lumen. Dr. Gruentzig presented the results of his first four angioplasty cases at the 1977 American Heart Association AHA meeting, which lead to widespread acknowledgement of his pioneering work. Angioplasty is the mechanical, hydraulic dilation of an artery lumen which has been narrowed, sometimes totally obstructed, generally due to atheroma (the lesion of atherosclerosis). ... Section of an artery An arterial road is a class of highway. ... Lad is a sub-sect of the Jainist Digambara sect. ... Section of an artery An arterial road is a class of highway. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The heart (Latin cor) is a hollow, muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. ... The coronary circulation consists of the blood vessels that supply blood to, and remove blood from, the heart. ... A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure. ... In anatomy, the lumen is the cavity or channel within a tube or tubular structure, such as the vascular lumen of a blood vessel, along which blood flows. ... AHA is a TLA that may refer to: The American Historical Association a-ha, a Norwegian pop music band American Heart Association American Hockey Association American Homebrewers Association American Humanist Association American Humane Association Alpha Hydroxy Acid aha! In some languages its an exclamation used when one gets...

The immediate results of this treatment, despite using only a carefully kitchen built catheter (crude by current standards), was quite good. The patient became and remained angina free after this treatment. This initial patient's result was electively rechecked, by angiography performed by Dr. Gruentzig at Emory University, on the 10 year anniversary of the initial treatment. The LAD narrowing, after this 10 year timespan, remained almost perfectly expanded. There was minimal residual narrowing, probably less than 10%, as seen in similar angle and multiple different views comparing with photographs of the original, 10 year earlier, before and after results.

The excellent results of this initial and subsequent patients were critical to the rapid development and growing acceptance of the angioplasty treatment option. Dr. Gruentzig recognized multiple important issues early: (a) the treatment would not be readily accepted by most physicians, especially bypass surgeons, (b) it could easily lead to bad outcomes without great care in selection of which patients/lesions to treat and of the treating physicians and (c) it required careful teaching of the technique and its potential difficulties and pitfalls to other physicians, so as to proactively reduce the occurrence of poor results. Understanding these issues and tireless effort on his part are widely recognized in cardiology for being of fundamental importance to the ultimate success of the technique. A lesion is a non-specific term referring to abnormal tissue in the body. ...

By about 1990, lumen stenosis of the coronary arteries was more commonly treated by the angioplasty technique than by coronary artery bypass surgery. This treatment approach is now referred to as POBA (plain old balloon angioplasty). A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure. ... The coronary circulation consists of the blood vessels that supply blood to, and remove blood from, the heart. ... Coronary artery bypass surgery Image showing a tube leading into the heart as well as the chest spreaders used to keep the chest cavity open. ...

In the 1990s, further major improvements, both immediate and especially long term became possible with better understanding of disease as a result of clinical research trials using IVUS and the development of stents to mechanically support POBA results. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is an medical imaging methodology using (a) specially designed long thin complex manufactured catheters attached to (b) computerized ultrasound equipment. ... In medicine, a stent is an expandable wire mesh tube that is inserted into a hollow structure of the body to keep it open. ...

External links

Andreas Gruentzig* Andreas Gruentzig and Angioplasty

See also

• Angioplasty