Cardiology, Milestones  Cardiology  Milestones in Cardiology 1543 | Vesalius observes the absence of connection between the two ventricles; blood therefore could not pass from one to the other. 1628 | William Harvey, an English Physician, first describes blood circulation. "Movement of the blood is constant in the circle and is brought about by the beat of the heart." 1706 | Raymond de Vieussens, a French anatomy professor, first describes the structure of the heart's chambers and vessels. 1733 | Stephen Hales, an English clergyman and scientist, first measures blood pressure. 1816 | Rene T. H. Laennec, a French physician, invents the stethoscope. 1895 | Oscar Langendorff publishes "Investigations on the surviving mammalian heart" Studying an isolated heart perfusion, he examines function and metabolism of the heart. 1903 | Willem Einthoven, a Dutch physiologist, develops the electrocardiograph. 1912 | James B. Herrick, an American physician, first describes heart disease resulting from hardening of the arteries. 1938 | Robert E. Gross, an American surgeon, performs first heart surgery. 1951 | Charles Hufnagel, an American surgeon, develops a plastic valve to repair an aortic valve. 1952 | John Lewis, an American surgeon, performs first successful open heart surgery. 1953 | John Gibbon, an American surgeon, first uses a mechanical heart and blood purifier. 1961 | Richard Lower and Norman Shumway report the first successful orthotropic cardiac transplantation in a dog. J. R. Jude, an American cardiologist, leads a team performing the first external cardiac massage to restart a heart. The U.S. Framingham Heart Study reports a connection between high cholesterol levels and increased risk of heart disease. 1964 | Charles T. Dotter introduces the concept of remodeling the artery by means of transluminal angioplasty. 1965 | American surgeons DeBakey and Kantrowitz implant mechanical devices to help a diseased heart. The U.S. Surgeon General's warning linking smoking with health risks is added to cigarette packaging. 1967 | Christiaan Barnard, a South African surgeon, performs the first whole-heart human to human transplant. 1968 | Falvaro reports using a saphenous vein graft to perform bypass surgery of a human coronary artery. 1970 | The balloon-tipped, flow-directed pulmonary artery Swan-Ganz catheter allows bedside right-heart catheterization. 1976 | Successful reperfusion of an infarct-related artery with intracoronary streptokinase is reported. 1977 | The first angioplasty on a conscious patient, done by Gruentzig, is the first case entered into a worldwide PCTA registry. 1980 | The first 1000 angioplasties are performed worldwide; NHLBI begins support of the PTCA registry. 1982 | Willem DeVries implants a permanent artificial heart, designed by Robert jarvik, into a human patient. Over-the-wire coaxial balloon systems are introduced; brachial guiding catheters and steerable guide wires developed. 1984 | Transvenous catheter ablation is used by Morady and Scheinman to extirpate the posteroseptal accessory pathway in a patient with Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome. 1986 | Jacques Puel and Ulrich Sigwart insert the first stent into a human coronary artery. Early IV administration of P-blockers in the emergency room is reported to reduce mortality. 1987 | Interventional devices, including rotational atherectomy devices and intravascular ultrasound, are used worldwide. 1991 | Passive smoking is identified as the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., and nonsmokers living with smokers are reported to show an increased risk of ischemic heart disease or MI of approximately 30%. 1992 | European Heart House established. 1993 | The first federal guidance document for interventional cardiology devices, including PTCA, balloon catheters, atherectomy catheters, lasers and intravascular stents, is released. Combination of thrombolytic therapy, aspirin, and IV followed by oral P-blockers reported to reduce mortality in acute MI. 1994 | Coronary stents are approved by the FDA. The combination of a lfb-Illa inhibitor with PTCA and stent insertion is reported to lower rates of rethrombosis. 1995 | IV administration of thrombolytic agents is reported to reduce heart tissue damage, particularly if administered early after acute MI. 1997 | Over 1 million angioplasties are performed, making angioplasty the most common medical intervention worldwide. 1998 | The protein vascular endothelial growth factor is reported to promote new blood vessel growth and increase blood flow to the heart.