ABSTRACT
Although many advances led to the development of interventional cardiology, this discipline was fully borne in 1977 when Andreas Gruentzig performed the first coronary angioplasty procedure.1 Since then, the specialty has been largely driven by advances in technology. The era 1977-1986 was dominated by the improvement in guide catheters, the development of guidewire technology and the improvement of balloons with a lowering of profile while increasing the tolerance to higher inflation pressures. The mid 1980s through the mid 1990s was an era of device development, including lasers, directional atherectomy, rotary ablation and stenting. In the latter part of the 1990s, the discipline became dominated by stenting, first with the early designs and then second and third generation devices.
