Young at Heart 3192

Originally Published MX May/June 2001

Market Analysis

The rapidly evolving field of interventional cardiology boasts coated stents, radiation therapy, and embolic protection devices among its latest innovations.

Tracy A. Schaaf

Figure 1. The Checkmate system by Cordis Corp. (Miami) treats in-stent restenosis using intravascular brachytherapy.

In 1977, a young Swiss physician named Andreas Gruentzig inserted a catheter into a patient's coronary artery and inflated a tiny balloon, successfully opening a blockage and restoring blood flow to the patient's heart. This procedure opened the floodgates to innovation in interventional cardiology (IC). Since that time, the cardiology community has been working to perfect the percutaneous, or nonsurgical, diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis, or coronary artery disease. What Gruentzig envisioned as an alternative to open-heart bypass surgery in an estimated 5% of cases has today increased to over 50%.