Angioplasty invented at OHSU

In 1964, OHSU's Dr. Charles T. Dotter performed the world's first percutaneous transuminal angioplasty, a procedure in which a catheter was used to open a blocked artery. Virtually overnight, the field of interventional radiology was born.

Read about the 50th anniversary of angioplasty

Experience and innovation

Today, more than 2,000 procedures are performed every year in our cardiac catheterization lab, where patients receive individualized care in a technologically-advanced facility. During each procedure, a specially trained team of experts use catheters to determine how well blood is flowing through the heart, collect blood samples directly from the heart and correct some heart defects. In fact, OHSU is the only hospital in Oregon to offer every form of percutaneous intervention to treat heart valve disease.

Meet our interventional cardiology team