Charles theodore dotter biography examples today

Dotter was born in Boston in and attended school in Freeport, New York. Having received his B. He first described percutaneous transluminal angioplasty PTA in , along with his trainee Melvin Judkins - they successfully used the technique to treat superficial femoral artery stenosis in a bed-ridden year-old lady who had previously refused amputation.

She was relieved of the pain, her ulcers healed see Fig. His PTA technique became fondly known, particularly amongst Europeans, as 'Dottering', and paved the way for modern endovascular techniques. This pioneering work was admired by many of his peers, but also unsurprisingly seen as out-of-place in Radiology by others.

A chain smoker, Dotter was an adventurer who climbed all 67 US peaks higher than 14, feet.

Famously, in March , Dotter received a form from a surgeon requesting a radiological consultation. The surgeon wanted only a left femoral arteriogram but definitely no radiological intervention - clearly demonstrated by his request form: "Visualize but do not try to fix!!! Needless to say, Dotter saw this as a challenge. He diligently visualised the left femoral artery stenosis.

Angioplasty was born 57 years ago today when Dr. Charles T. Dotter, a radiologist in Portland, Oregon, performed the first angioplasty.

However, having also diagnosed a stenosis in the right femoral artery, he proceeded to 'fix' that leg, thus not technically disobeying his referring surgeon! Cook recalls, "The next morning he was waiting for me with ten beautifully made Teflon catheters and my blowtorch. I had just started my business, and I admit that those ten catheters were sold to someone else for ten dollars each later that day.

He was my first production employee. Beyond this, he was known to also create experimental interventional tools out of everyday items, such as guitar strings, piano wire and even a Volkswagen speedometer cable. The results of his more formal technical innovations and collaborations included the co-axial catheter method, the exit catheter, the safety wire and the loop snare see Fig.

Dotter pioneered several techniques to improve contemporary methods of vascular diagnostics.