Andreas Gruentzig

Andreas R. Gruentzig, 1939–1985, was a German radiologist who first developed successful balloon angioplasty for expanding lumens of narrowed arteries. His first successful coronary 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 (see 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.

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 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.

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).

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.

Since the later 1990s, most angioplasties also involve a stent over the angioplasty balloon; the balloon is hydraulically (typically 6 up to 25 atmospheres of internal pressure) expanded, then deflated and removed while the stent remains behind to mechanically support the lumen remaining in the new, more open shape as created by the hydraulically expanded balloon.

Gruentzig's success remains a major breakthrough and great contribution to the field of medicine in demonstrating that doctors could work inside of the arteries safely, without the need for open surgery. By utilizing the arterial circulation as a "therapeutic highway", many types of devices and drugs can now be delivered directly to the heart, kidneys, carotid arteries, brain, legs and aorta without the need for major surgery and general anesthesia.

Gruentzig, an instrument-rated pilot, and his wife died in an airplane crash in their Beechcraft Baron in Forsyth, Georgia on 1985-10-27.