The Origins
The Precursors to Andreas Grüntzig
1.1 - Werner Forssmann: The first human catheterization
P2. Werner Forssmann (1904-79)
The first vessel catheterization was performed in 1929 by Werner Forssmann (1904-79), a German physician who lived in Eberswalde, near Berlin, Germany. This story was told in his book Experiments on myself. Memoirs of a surgeon, published in 1962.1 It is an extraordinary story. Werner Forssmann wanted to find an access route for injecting life-saving drugs that was less dangerous than intracardiac puncture. He knew the works of Jean-Baptiste Auguste Chauveau and Etienne Jules Marey who had performed the first catheterizations on horses. This process was harmless for animals, but was presumed dangerous for humans. In any case, Werner Forssmann was convinced that it would be perfectly safe and, therefore, ignoring the ban by the chief of his service, he secretly decided to try his first experimentation.
After cadaver experiments allowed him to see that it would be possible to advance a catheter through a vessel to reach the heart, he performed this first catheterization on himself, using a urethral catheter inserted by an incision into his antecubital...
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- Forssmann W. Selbstversuch. Erinnerungen eines Chirurgien. Verlag Dr. Köster, Berlin. 1972.
- Forssmann W. Die Sondierung des rechten Herzens. Klinike Wochenschrift. 1929;8:2085-7.
- Seldinger SI. Catheter replacement of the needle in percutaneous arteriography: a new technique. Acta radiol. 1953;39:368-76.
- Sones FM Jr, Shirey EK, Proudfit WL, Westcott RN. Cine-coronary arteriography (abstract). Circulation. 1959;20:773-4.
- Dotter C, Judkins M. Transluminal treatment of arteriosclerotic obstruction: description of a new technic and a preliminary report of its application. Circulation. 1964;30:654-70.
- Judkins MP. Selective coronary arteriography. Part I: A percutaneous transfemoral technic. Radiology. 1967;89:815-24.
- Zeitler E, Schoop W, Zahnow W. The treatment of occlusive arterial disease by transluminal catheter angioplasty. Radiology. 1971;99:19-26.
- Porstmann W. [A new corset balloon catheter for Dotter’s transluminal recanilization with special reference to obliterations of the pelvic arteries]. [Article in German]. Radiol Diagn. 1973;14:239-44.
- Grüntzig A, Hopff H. [Percutaneous recanalization after chronic arterial occlusion with a new dilator-catheter. Modification of the Dotter technique] [Article in German]. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 1974;99:2502-5.