Thomas Fogarty, Inventor of the Balloon Catheter, Dies at 91

Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, the vascular surgeon and inventor whose balloon embolectomy catheter transformed treatment for blood clots, died at 91 on Dec. 28 at his home in Los Altos, Calif., his sons Thomas Jr. and Jonathon confirmed. Fogarty developed the catheter while a medical student at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, adapting a cut glove finger as a balloon and attaching it to a urethral catheter using fly-tying techniques.

The first balloon-catheter procedure was performed in 1960 or 1961, according to various accounts, and the device was patented in 1969. The Fogarty catheter is still used hundreds of thousands of times a year and, the American College of Surgeons and Fogarty Innovation say, is credited with saving an estimated 20 million lives worldwide.

Over his career he held more than 190 medical patents, founded more than 45 medical technology companies, and started Fogarty Innovation in 2007. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001, received a $500,000 Lemelson-M.I.T. Prize in 2000, and was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2014.

He also helped develop the AneuRX stent graft and the Hancock aortic tissue heart valve and was affiliated for decades with Stanford University Medical Center. Born Feb.

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Health, Thomas Fogarty, Fogarty Catheter, Fogarty Innovation, Stanford University, Aneurx Stent Graft