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The father of interventional radiology, Charles Dotter, a vascular
radiologist at the University of Oregon in Portland, introduced transluminal
angioplasty in 1964, working with Melvin Judkins. Dotter used multiple
catheters of increasing diameter to open blocked arteries and improve
blood flow in patients with arteriosclerosis in peripheral (leg) arteries.
Like many innovators, he had a drive and style that put him, and too often his ideas, outside of the mainstream. Philosophical resistance, especially from the surgical community, difficulties reproducing his techniques and occurrence of complications resulted in angioplasty being rejected and ignored in the U.S. for nearly 15 years. Dotter's techniques were embraced and expanded, however, by investigators in Europe (notably Dr. Eberhart Zeitler in Germany who introduced Dr. Andreas Gruentzig to Dotter's techniques) and proved instrumental to the development of the field of interventional cardiology. Dotter's innovation moved traditional radiology beyond the realm of diagnostic imaging toward non-surgical intervention to treat vascular disease.
Charles Dotter's hobbies included mountain-climbing and film-making.
For your enjoyment, we present a short clip from his 1964 film "Transluminal
Angioplasty", in which he introduced the concept of angioplasty.
The film is narrated by Charles Dotter. A humorous note is that the
patient in the film is a surgeon himself! 
To view this clip, you will need the Real VideoPlayer Plug-in. If
you don't have it, you can download
it for free. |
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