Geoffrey O. Hartzler, MD, who performed the first coronary angioplasty to treat acute myocardial infarction (MI) in 1979 at the Mayo Clinic, died suddenly March 10, 2012, after a battle with prostate cancer. He was 65 years old.

Regarded as a pioneer of interventional cardiology, Dr. Hartzler earned his MD from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) in 1972 and started the angioplasty program at the Mid America Heart Institute of St. Luke’s Hospital (Kansas City, MO) in 1980. He broadened the reach of angioplasty from simple discrete lesions to complex lesions and patients, including multivessel disease, chronic total occlusions, and acute MI.

Looking back on his experience, Dr. Hartzler told the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) in 2007 in an interview for a video documentary that though “all the cases that we did during [those] early years were scary. . . . The opportunity of being on the forefront of the procedure was a real honor, a privilege. It’s fantastic to be in a position to get the experience we got, [which] allowed me to travel a lot, meet a lot of people, lecture, teach. . . . I think second to patient care, teaching the procedure . . . was probably the most exciting, most rewarding.”

And teach he did. Dr. Hartzler founded the first Advanced Angioplasty Fellowship, which has been the template for programs around the world. His trainees include Course Director of the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium Gregg W. Stone, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center (New York, NY), among many other well-known names in the field of interventional cardiology.

In an e-mail communication with TCTMD, Dr. Stone praised Dr. Hartzler. “Geoff truly served as my guiding light as a person and physician, and his contributions to medicine cannot be overstated,” he said. “Whereas Andreas Gruentzig was responsible for bringing angioplasty to the world, Geoff Hartzler was the single person most responsible for extending its application to the millions of patients who currently benefit each year from interventional cardiology. . . . In the cath lab, Geoff was fearless and possessed technical gifts that to this date have not been equaled, but his compassion for the person ‘under the drape’ was the guiding principle that motivated his career.”

Remembered for Excellence

Dr. Hartzler retired from clinical practice in 1993 after suffering from various back problems, which he attributed to the heavy lead aprons he wore in practice. Nonetheless, he wanted to continue contributing to his field despite an inability to actually perform procedures. Dr. Hartzler co-founded and served as the director of 4 medical device companies, including Ventritex and IntraLuminal Therapeutics, and served as a consultant and/or director for 7 additional companies.

“There are a lot of ways to help patients,” he said for the video documentary. “If the doctors don’t have devices that are safe and efficacious and that really do the job for them, they won’t take care of patients. So I think there’s a lot of satisfaction that comes from creating a new, better, different device that can really help doctors take care of patients.”

In 2009, the Master Clinical Operator Award given annually at TCT to recognize an interventional operator who has distinguished himself or herself as an innovator in the field was named for Dr. Hartzler. The award most recently went to Horst Sievert, MD, PhD, of Sankt Katharinen Hospital (Frankfurt, Germany) in 2011.

Dr. Hartzler is survived by his wife of 27 years Dorothy, 1 brother, 4 daughters, and 2 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in Kansas City on a date to be determined.