The Heart Healers (63 page)

Handsome, charismatic Christiaan Barnard was a world celebrity, a favorite of the press, but not the medical establishment.

Every bit as charismatic and movie-star handsome as famed surgeon Christiaan Barnard, Andreas Gruentzig was described by one of his nurses as a cross between Clark Gable and Errol Flynn. Courtesy Emory University

Andreas Gruentzig, a lover of fast cars, was drawn to flying. After buying his own plane and earning certification as a solo pilot, he upgraded to instrument flying. Courtesy
ptca.org

Andreas Gruentzig’s appearance with a poster displaying angioplasty in an animal at the annual American Heart Association meeting encountered a very skeptical reception. For Gruentzig, however, failure was fuel. Courtesy
ptca.org

Geoff Hartzler, throughout his life a rebel, faced down both Gruentzig and the medical establishment. Courtesy
ptca.org

Stenting an atheroma: at the top, a yellow atheroma partially obstructs a blood vessel above a balloon-tipped catheter with a crimped cylindrical stent. When the balloon is inflated (middle), the stent crushes the atheroma into the vessel wall. When the balloon is deflated and the catheter withdrawn (bottom), the stent holds the vessel open.

Nikolai Anitschkov as a military cadet in Russia. Had his landmark research on atheroma formation been performed in the West, he would have been a reasonable candidate for the Nobel Prize.

Russell Ross, a dentist by training, chose the path less followed, making basic science observations that led to our understanding of atheroma formation and rupture. Courtesy University of Washington Medicine Department of Pathology

Meet the first person ever diagnosed with CAD: it is Princess Ahmose Meyret Amon, who lived during 1580–1550 BC, and died aged 40–45 years. This computerized tomographic image of her mummy shows bright white calcium in her left and right coronary arteries, as well as leg vessels. For more, see Allam AH, et al., “Atherosclerosis in Ancient Egyptian Mummies.”
Journal of the American College of Cardiology,
Cardiovascular Imaging. 2011;4:315–327. Courtesy Dr. Gregory Thomas

“Greta,” “Tyler,” and “Jon” when I interviewed them in San Francisco. Greta’s story is the most remarkable that I have encountered in my years as a cardiologist. Courtesy Author

As three college buddies enter middle age, they stage an annual reunion. “Mort” on the left, “Don” in dark glasses (behind), and me at a football game could hardly imagine the events that soon would consume our lives. Courtesy Author

Like London Marathoner Claire Squires and English soccer player Fabrice Muamba, competitive world-class athletes are not immune to sudden death. Norwegian swimmer Alexander Dale Oen won gold at the European Championships. A year later he died suddenly at a pre-Olympic training facility. Autopsy revealed coronary artery disease.