50 Years Ago Today Charles Dotter Invented Angioplasty

Charles Dotter. MD

Charles Dotter. MD

It was 50 years ago today that Dr. Charles T. Dotter, a radiologist in Portland, Oregon, performed the first angioplasty. But it wasn’t in the heart; it was in the leg.

An 82-year-old woman was suffering from great pain in her left foot because of blocked circulation in her leg. Her toes had become gangrenous and there was an non-healing ulcer. Amputation was recommended by the physicians at Oregon Health Sciences University, but the woman refused.

Luckily, the surgeon in charge of the case knew of Dr. Dotter’s interest in the possibility of using a catheter to open a blocked artery. Like all radiologists, Charles Dotter routinely did imaging studies for the surgeons. He would thread a hollow-tubed catheter inserted through a small needle into the femoral artery to squirt dye into the leg (and other) arteries, and then to take an X-ray (angiogram) showing the circulation and any blockages. Using these pictures, the surgeon would know where to operate.

But Dotter had a theory. What if, instead of just using the catheter for dye delivery and imaging, what if he could actually push the catheter itself through the blockage and open up the circulation — from within — without surgery? What if, instead of just imaging the artery, he also could treat it?

Given the dire prognosis and the patient’s refusal for amputation, the surgeon decided to let Dr. Dotter see if he could do something. And he did. On January 16, 1964, Charles Dotter imaged the patient and saw that she had a short blockage in the superficial femoral artery (SFA), not far from the needle puncture used for imaging. He proceeded to slide a series of catheters through the blockage, from narrow to wider, one after the other, slowly dilating the area that was blocked. And it worked! The stenosis was opened, on the catheterization lab table, without surgery.

As for the patient, the pain stopped in about a week and the ulcer healed completely. Her foot no longer required amputation and follow-up angiograms showed that the artery had stayed open.

This seminal and successful event was the beginning of interventional medicine. Dotter began refining and inventing new catheters and wires, working closely with Bill Cook, founder of Cook Medical.

Dotter’s ideas, however, were rejected out-of-hand by the vascular surgical community in the United States; he was, in fact, dubbed “Crazy Charlie.” But European doctors, specifically Eberhardt Zeitler of Germany, visited him in Portland and brought his techniques to Europe. There a young angiologist named Andreas Gruentzig met Zeitler and came up with the design for a balloon on the catheter. Within a few years, with the support and help of Dr. Richard Myler of San Francisco, Gruentzig performed the first coronary angioplasty in 1977.

You can experience how this story of innovation unfolded via the narrative of the people involved in my award-winning feature-length documentary, “PTCA: A History.” By the way, have I mentioned that you can buy the DVD on our web site?

But, to get a sense of Dotter and a brief look into his times, I’ve posted the clip below, which is a 6 minute excerpt from an earlier documentary of mine, “Explorers of the Heart (1985).” It’s introduced by Dr. Richard Myler and contains actual clips from a movie that Charles Dotter made and narrated about angioplasty (he was an amateur film-maker, among his many other talents).

 

Oh yeah, since we’re talking about anniversaries and such, an odd coincidence that today, January 16, also happens to be the birthday of the Editor of Angioplasty.Org — ME! And thank you all in advance for your kind wishes  😉

 

3 Comments

Filed under Angiograms, History, Imaging, Innovators, Video

3 Responses to 50 Years Ago Today Charles Dotter Invented Angioplasty

  1. Even fifty years later, we are continuing to build upon Dr. Dotter’s work. Advancements in the field now include the use of robotic angioplasty and using robotic precision for stent placement. Hopefully the trend of innovation that Dr. Dotter began 50 years ago will continue long into the future.

  2. Thank you for jogging our memories
    Reading history like this is truly inspiring.

  3. Richard Roof

    I am a 62 year old male that lives with CAD and a survivor of quadruple bypass 16 years ago and approx. 10 stents over the years. Thanks to Dr. Dotter’s work I live basically a pain free life today. “Crazy Charlie” is my ki
    nd of crazy!

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