Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Witness History
Episode: The invention of the balloon-expandable stent
Description: An estimated 2 million stents are implanted into people’s hearts around the world each year – making it one of the key treatments for heart disease. The treatment was invented by Argentinian doctor Julio Palmaz, who credits a piece of metal being left by a construction worker in his home as inspiration for the structure of the stent. Collaborating with a US Army cardiologist and getting funding from the owner of a fast-food chain and a pharmaceutical giant; the coronary stent was approved for use in human beings in the 1990s. Julio Palmaz speaks to T...