January 16 – On This Day in Medical History
Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with January 16.
Events
1964 – Charles T. Dotter (1920-1985) and trainee Melvin Judkins performed the first intentional percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, using a wire guide and coaxial catheters to dilate a focal femoral lesion in Laura Shaw, aged 82, who had refused amputation; the limb reperfused immediately and the ulcer healed. This clinical “intraluminal operation” later gained wide surgical acceptance under the label “endoluminal surgery.”
The angiographic catheter can be more than a tool for passive means of diagnostic observation; used with imagination, it can become an important surgical instrument
2015 – National without a scalpel day founded by the Interventional Initiative. Observed annually on January 16th to celebrate the anniversary of the first angioplasty performed by Charles Dotter.
Births
1815 – Léon Athanase Gosselin (1815-1887), French surgeon; described the Gosselin Fracture (1855)
Deaths
1897– Paul Louis Duroziez (1826-1897), French general practitioner; described Duroziez Sign (1861)
Further reading
- Dotter CT, Judkins MP. Transluminal treatment of arteriosclerotic obstruction. Description of a new technic and a preliminary report of its application. Circulation 1964; 30: 654-70
- Payne MM. Charles Theodore Dotter. The father of intervention. Tex Heart Inst J. 2001;28(1):28-38.
- The first angioplasty – in 1964 – turned out to be a medical milestone. Cook Medical
BA MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM. Emergency physician, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Passion for rugby; medical history; medical education; and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | On Call: Principles and Protocol 4e| Eponyms | Books |