International Interventional Cardiology Day
September 16 · Level 8 · #544 of 2238
International Interventional Cardiology Day honours doctors who treat the heart through a thin catheter instead of a large incision. It is a chance to see how far medicine has come in treating blocked arteries and heart disease.
How it is celebrated: hospitals and professional societies hold lectures, workshops for young doctors and talks with patients, and share advice on preventing heart disease. Specialists swap experience and new techniques.
The date is no accident: on 16 September 1977 the Swiss doctor Andreas Grüntzig performed the first balloon angioplasty on a human coronary artery, in Zurich.