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In February 1978, the Lancet published a report by Andreas Grüntzig on the successful operation of coronary arteries with balloon catheters. Although published in the category «Letters to the editor», this short text proved to be a key publication for his further career.

Before, during and after dilatation with balloon catheter (Image: Grüntzig, Hopff, Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift 1974)

Andreas Grüntzig had already come a long way. While he was employed at the former Kantonsspital Zurich, he developed the balloon catheter. The first models were created at the kitchen table of his Zurich apartment. Supported by the scientific assistant Maria Schlumpf, her husband and Grüntzig’s wife, he experimented many evenings until he succeeded in developing a tiny, form-stable balloon from the then still novel material PVC, which could be introduced into an artery with the help of a catheter. When it was inflated, the balloon expanded the artery and was able to make a narrowed vessel passable again.

First publication in German

Grüntzig and the chemist Heinrich Hopff published their first successes in the surgery of femoral and pelvic arteries in 1974 in the Deutschen Medizinischen Wochenschrift. Hopff was emeritus chemist at ETH and played a decisive role in the development of the PVC material. By choosing a German-language journal, however, Grüntzig and Hopff limited their readership to their German-speaking colleagues, which delayed the international perception of the new method. It was only when Grüntzig used the balloon catheter in 1977 to dilate a coronary artery that international experts became aware of its development. The short report on the successful first five operations appeared on 4 February 1978 in the Lancet under the heading «Letters to the editor» (displayed in the exhibition « From issue to e-journal» at the Main Library Medicine – Careum). This was probably the fastest way to publish the medical sensation.

Andreas Grüntzig and his superior Walter Siegenthaler in the Tagesanzeiger

Too big for Zurich?

Suddenly Grüntzig was a celebrity. Only four days after the publication in the Lancet, the Tagesanzeiger published a photo of Grüntzig and his superior Walter Siegenthaler on the front page with the headline «Important contribution to combating heart attacks». The influx of patients was immense. There were long waiting periods because there were not enough beds available in the Kantonsspital. Grüntzig fought for additional funds. It is still the subject of fierce controversy as to why these were not granted to him in Zurich and whether it would not have been possible to keep him. Grüntzig accepted an offer from the Emory University of Atlanta for a chair in cardiology and radiology in 1980. Only four years later, he died in a tragic plane crash.