Last week I added more hardware to my Bionic Woman Inventory with a cardiac stent. I joined the ranks of roughly 2 million people a year who have this minimally invasive procedure that takes a little over an hour. 10 years ago it would have been open heart surgery with a grueling recovery. It’s truly amazing.
Dr. Julio Palmez is the Argentinian vascular radiologist who is known for inventing the balloon expandable vent. He received the patent in 1985 for what has been considered one of the ten most important inventions of all time. It took almost 10 years for FDA approval in 1994. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. Click on the link below for his full bio and how he created his invention .
The word Stent has a complicated history and is derived from the name of an English Dentist according to This AHA Journal article
My heart is still trying to figure out what to do with the increased blood flow as it takes the heart a few weeks to “remodel.” Now I don’t have to warn people about my heart murmur anymore 🙂
Thank you Dr. Palmez, wherever you are on behalf of the millions of hearts you have saved and helped, including mine.