Andreas Gruentzig is known for being the first to develop successful balloon angioplasty for expanding lumens of narrowed arteries.
18 Facts About Andreas Gruentzig
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Andreas Roland Gruentzig was born in Dresden, Germany on 25 June 1939, shortly before the start of World War II.
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Andreas Gruentzig's mother was Charlotta Gruentzig and a teacher.
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Andreas Gruentzig studied at Bunsen Gymnasium while his brother enrolled as a medical student at Heidelberg University.
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Andreas Gruentzig began his medical studies at Heidelberg University in autumn 1958, subsequently graduating on 8 April 1964.
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Andreas Gruentzig then rotated through a series of internships in Mannheim, Hanover, Bad Harzburg, and Ludwigshafen.
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In 1966 Andreas Gruentzig returned to Heidelberg University to take on a staff assistant job at the university's Institute for Social and Occupational Medicine investigating risk factors for cardiovascular disease, chronic bronchitis, and liver degeneration.
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Andreas Gruentzig presented the results of his first four angioplasty cases at the 1977 American Heart Association meeting, which led to widespread acknowledgement of his pioneering work.
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In 1976, Andreas Gruentzig was presenting his animal research at a Miami medical meeting.
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Andreas Gruentzig was contemplating a significant change in his career because he had become frustrated with the slow pace of his efforts in Europe compared to the United States.
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When Dr Andreas Gruentzig initially joined Emory, he collaborated with Dr King to lead demonstration courses.
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Andreas Gruentzig's success remains a major breakthrough and great contribution to the field of medicine in demonstrating that doctors could work inside of the arteries safely, without the need for open surgery.
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Andreas Gruentzig fathered an out-of-wedlock daughter named Katrin Hoffman in 1967.
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At that time, Andreas Gruentzig was spending most of his time with an Emory medical student, Margaret Anne Thornton of Macon, Georgia.
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Andreas Gruentzig dressed himself 20 minutes after the procedure was done, headed back to his office and resumed his work while applying pressure to the puncture site with his hand in his pocket.
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Andreas Gruentzig felt that if "knowing the coronary anatomy via angiography was good for his patients it would be good for himself".
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Andreas Gruentzig's medical billing assistant, Nona Law, led the way with CTP codings for all of Dr Gruentzig's procedures.
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Andreas Gruentzig, an instrument-rated pilot, and his wife, Margaret Anne, died in an airplane crash in their Beechcraft Baron in Forsyth, Georgia, on 27 October 1985.