How a Simple Balloon Changed Vascular Surgery

Thomas Fogarty invented the balloon catheter in the early 1960s, while he was still a medical student. The device is a thin tube with a small inflatable balloon at the tip that passes through a clot, is inflated, and then pulls the clot out through a small incision. This method reduced the need for large operations and made limb-saving treatment safer. Although companies were reluctant at first, Fogarty patented the catheter in 1969 and manufacturers later produced it.

Fogarty later taught surgery at Stanford and he founded Fogarty Innovation to coach new medical inventors. He has been honored with major awards, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which was presented in 2014. The balloon catheter is still widely used: it is involved in about 300,000 procedures each year and it has helped save millions of limbs and lives. He held more than 190 medical patents and helped develop other devices such as a stent-graft and a tissue heart valve.