Kurt Anton Amplatz (February 25, 1924 – November 6, 2019) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

and medical device inventor. He is best known for the invention of the Amplatzer Septal Occluder as well as the Amplatzer Cribriform Occluder, which is used for closing

atrial septal defect Atrial septal defect (ASD) is a congenital heart defect in which blood flows between the atria (upper chambers) of the heart. Some flow is a normal condition both pre-birth and immediately post-birth via the foramen ovale; however, when this d ...

, a common

congenital heart defect A congenital heart defect (CHD), also known as a congenital heart anomaly and congenital heart disease, is a defect in the structure of the heart or great vessels that is present at birth. A congenital heart defect is classed as a cardiovascular ...

s found in infants. These devices are inserted by percutaneous catheter placement, thus avoiding

open heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

. In 1958, he performed one of the first percutaneous catheterizations of the heart. Amplatz spent most of his 40-year career in Radiology as the Chairman of Interventional Radiology at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Early life and education

Kurt Amplatz was born on February 25, 1924, in Weistrach,

. He was raised in

Senftenberg Senftenberg ( wen, Zły Komorow) is a town in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany, capital of the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district. Geography Senftenberg is located in the southwest of the historic Lower Lusatia region at the border with Saxony. It ...

and later in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

. He attended the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

, graduating with a medical degree in 1951. He interned at the Universitätsklinikum St. Pölten and at St. John's Hospital in Brooklyn. He completed his postgraduate work in radiology at

Wayne State University School of Medicine The Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) is the medical school of Wayne State University, a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,500 students in undergraduate medical education, master's degree, Ph ...

in Detroit.

Medical career

In 1957, he began working at the radiology faculty of the

University of Minnesota Medical School The University of Minnesota Medical School is the medical school of the University of Minnesota. It is a combination of two campuses situated in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Medical School is also part of one of ...

. There he developed a device that allowed physicians to inject dye into the heart via a catheter. He also built a chair for use in

pneumoencephalography Pneumoencephalography (sometimes abbreviated PEG; also referred to as an "air study") was a common medical procedure in which most of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was drained from around the brain by means of a lumbar puncture and replaced with ai ...

for detection of brain tumors before CT scans. With his son, Curtis, he developed the Amplatzer Occluder, which introduced a mesh via a catheter that could close holes in the heart. Before retiring from the University of Minnesota in 1997, he formed his own company, AGA Medical. AGA designed and sold small devices that could close defects in the heart. Amplatz sold one third of the company to two partners, which ultimately led to internal conflict. Lawsuits between the partners resulted in a bidding process in which a private equity investor,

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), also referred to as Welsh Carson, is a private equity firm. WCAS was formed in 1979 and focuses on investing in two growth industries, technology and healthcare, primarily in the United States. WCAS has a ...

, acquired more than half of the company. The company was sold to St. Jude Medical in 2010 for more than $1 billion. Before leaving the company, Amplatz had accumulated more than 100 patents. He donated $1 million worth of his occluders to poor patients.

Personal life

He was married to Maxine Amplatz and had four children. Dr. Amplatz died on November 6, 2019, at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amplatz, Kurt Austrian radiologists University of Minnesota faculty Austrian emigrants to the United States 1924 births 2019 deaths