Angioplasty, also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis.
Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. Andreas Gruentzig is considered the father of interventional cardiology after the development of angioplasty by interventional radiologist Charles Dotter.
Andreas Roland Grüntzig was a German radiologist and cardiologist, with foundational interest, training and research in epidemiology and angiology. He is known for being the first to develop successful balloon angioplasty for expanding lumens of narrowed arteries. He was born in Dresden.
A catheterization laboratory, commonly referred to as a cath lab, is an examination room in a hospital or clinic with diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualize the arteries of the heart and the chambers of the heart and treat any stenosis or abnormality found.
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a minimally invasive non-surgical procedure used to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary artery disease. The procedure is used to place and deploy coronary stents, a permanent wire-meshed tube, to open narrowed coronary arteries. PCI is considered 'non-surgical' as it uses a small hole in a peripheral artery (leg/arm) to gain access to the arterial system, an equivalent surgical procedure would involve the opening of the chest wall to gain access to the heart area. The term 'coronary angioplasty with stent' is synonymous with PCI. The procedure visualises the blood vessels via fluoroscopic imaging and contrast dyes. PCI is performed by an interventional cardiologists in a catheterization laboratory setting.
The Krishna Heart and Super Specialty Institute, also known as Krishna Heart Institute or Krishna Hospital, located in Ahmedabad, India, was established in 2000 as a high-end medical facility, specialising in heart diseases. The hospital expanded its field of work into different medical branches and has performed over 25,000 procedures including 4,000 bypass surgeries. The hospital was acquired by Shalby Ltd. in 2012. It is a facility that seeks to gain income from the increase seen in medical tourism in India.
The history of invasive and interventional cardiology is complex, with multiple groups working independently on similar technologies. Invasive and interventional cardiology is currently closely associated with cardiologists, though the development and most of its early research and procedures were performed by diagnostic and interventional radiologists.
Bal Krishna Goyal was a cardiologist and medical educationist from India. He was an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist to the Texas Heart Institute at Houston, USA. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 1984, followed by the Padma Bhushan in 1990 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2005.
B. J. Medical College (BJMC) is a public medical college situated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is affiliated to the Gujarat University and Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Dr. Praveen Chandra is an Indian cardiologist and chairman of interventional cardiology at Medanta - The Medicity, Gurgaon, India. He is recognised as one of the leaders in angioplasty in the country and is proficient in a lot of new devices and technologies. He has been awarded for his contribution and services in the field of coronary angioplasty in India in 1998.
Transradial catheterization is an endovascular procedure or catheterization procedure performed to diagnose and treat arterial disease. Endovascular procedure can be performed achieving access in to body’s arterial system from either femoral artery, brachial artery or radial artery in the wrist. The transfemoral approach to perform cardiac catheterization has typically been more prevalent in invasive cardiology. But radial access has gained popularity due to technical advances with catheters and lower complication rates than transfemoral access. The European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association both support a radial-first approach in acute coronary syndrome.
Purshotam Lal is an Indian cardiologist and chairman and director of Interventional Cardiology of the Metro Group of Hospitals. He has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2009), Padma Bhushan (2003),Dr. B. C. Roy Award (2004), and Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (Medicine) (2022), He specializes in non-surgical closure of heart holes (ASD/VSD), non-surgical replacement of valves, and treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Mathew Samuel Kalarickal is an Indian cardiologist widely known as the father of angioplasty in India. He specializes in coronary angioplasty, carotid stenting, coronary stenting and rotablator atherectomy.
Ashok Seth is an Indian interventional cardiologist, credited with the performance of over 50,000 angiograms and 20,000 angioplasties, which has been included in the Limca Book of Records, a book for achievements and records from an Indian perspective. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Ireland and serves as the chief cardiologist, holding the chairs of the department of cardiovascular sciences and cardiology council at the Fortis Healthcare. Seth, a recipient of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, was honored by the Government of India with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri, in 2003, followed by Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award, in 2015.
Ashwin Balachand Mehta is an Indian cardiologist and one of the pioneers of interventional cardiology in India. He is the director of Cardiology department at Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai and also serves Breach Candy Hospital, as a consultant. He is reported to have performed the first Cardiac catheterization and Angiography in newborn babies in India, in 1973, the year when he introduced Bundle Electrography in the country. He is also credited with the performance or supervision of over 35,000+ angioplasties and over 75,000+ angiographies.
Upendra Kaul is an Indian cardiologist and one of the pioneers of interventional cardiology in India. He is the Chairman and Dean Academics and Research at the Batra Hospital and Medical Research Center. He is known for his expertise in procedures such as Percutaneous Cardiopulmonary bypass, Rotational and Directional Atherectomy, Coronary stenting and Percutaneous Laser Myocardial Revascularization. He graduated in medicine (MBBS) from the Maulana Azad Medical College and continued his studies at the same institution to secure MD in 1975 and, DM in cardiology in 1978. Later, he obtained advanced training in interventional cardiology from Australia during 1983 to 84. He has served the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as a professor of cardiology and has been a member of the faculty of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, G. B. Pant Hospital, Batra Hospital and Fortis Health Care, NCR. and Executive Director and Dean at Fortis Health Care, New Delhi.
Daljeet Singh Gambhir is an Indian cardiologist, medical academic, researcher and inventor and the Group Director of Cardiology at Kailash Group of Hospitals and Heart Institute, Noida. He is the inventor of Infinnium Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent, a reportedly cheaper drug-eluting stent which he first presented at the EuroPCR meeting held in Paris in 2003. A fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and an honorary fellow of the Indian College of Cardiology, he is reported to have performed over 10,000 coronary interventions. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to medicine.
Kamal Kumar Sethi is an Indian neurologist
Donald S. Baim was a researcher and clinician in the field of interventional cardiology. Baim's primary research focused on coronary blood flow, catheter intervention in heart disease, and congestive heart failure. His work helped to shift the use of catheters from a purely diagnostic tool to a therapeutic tool. After receiving a medical degree from Yale and initial medical training, residency and a fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center, Baim spent the bulk of his career at Beth Israel Hospital and at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In 1993, Baim founded the Beth Israel Hospital's Cardiovascular Data Analysis Center (CDAC) -- later to be named Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI). Baim died of cancer in November 2009. In October 2016, HCRI changed its name to the Baim Institute for Clinical Research.
Samin K. Sharma is an American philanthropist of Indian descent and an interventional cardiologist who co-founded the Eternal Heart Care Centre and Research Institute in Jaipur (EHCC). Sharma has served on New York State’s Cardiac Advisory Board since 2004. As of 2021, he is Senior Vice-President, Operations & Quality at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and runs the Dr. Samin K. Sharma Family Foundation Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. As of 2018, he is Chairman Board of Trustees, Association of Indians in America (AIA). As of 2022, he has been an investigator on 86 grants and multi-center trials and authored 486 peer-reviewed articles that have been cited 21,734 times.
