Sven Ivar Seldinger (19 April 1921 – 21 February 1998), was a

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

from Mora Municipality, Sweden. In 1953, he introduced the

Seldinger technique The Seldinger technique, also known as Seldinger wire technique, is a medical procedure to obtain safe access to blood vessels and other hollow organ (anatomy), organs. It is eponym, named after Sven Ivar Seldinger (1921–1998), a Sweden, Swedish ...

to obtain safe access to

blood vessel Blood vessels are the tubular structures of a circulatory system that transport blood throughout many Animal, animals’ bodies. Blood vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to most of the Tissue (biology), tissues of a Body (bi ...

s and other hollow

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

Biography

Sven Ivar Seldinger was born on 19 April 1921 in Dalarna, Sweden. He was born to a family who had long run the local Mora Mechanical Workshop. He first began his medical training in 1940 at the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

. After graduating medical school in 1948, he went on to specialize in radiology. While attending at the Karolinska Hospital he came up with an idea of how to administer a

catheter In medicine, a catheter ( ) is a thin tubing (material), tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. ...

that would be able to reach every human

artery An artery () is a blood vessel in humans and most other animals that takes oxygenated blood away from the heart in the systemic circulation to one or more parts of the body. Exceptions that carry deoxygenated blood are the pulmonary arteries in ...

. He was qualified with the title of Docent in Radiology in 1967 after successfully defending his thesis on percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography. He was later able to demonstrate, using "phantom experiments", how one could insert a catheter into the

femoral artery The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the thigh and leg. The femoral artery gives off the deep femoral artery and descends along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the femoral triangle. It enters ...

and reach both the

parathyroid Parathyroid glands are small endocrine glands in the neck of humans and other tetrapods. Humans usually have four parathyroid glands, located on the back of the thyroid gland in variable locations. The parathyroid gland produces and secretes pa ...

and renal arteries. In 1975, the New York Academy of Medicine awarded Seldinger the Valentine award. The Swedish Association of Medical Radiology and the German Roentgen Association both awarded him an honorary membership to their organizations. In 1984 Seldinger received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the Faculty of Medicine at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Seldinger died at home in Dalarna, Sweden on 21 February 1998. He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

The Seldinger technique

The Seldinger technique is a medical procedure to obtain safe access to blood vessels and other hollow organs. It is used for

angiography Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins, and the heart chambers. Modern angiography is perfo ...

, insertion of chest drains and central venous catheters, insertion of PEG tubes using the push technique, insertion of the leads for an

artificial pacemaker A pacemaker, also known as an artificial cardiac pacemaker, is an Implant (medicine), implanted medical device that generates Pulse (signal processing), electrical pulses delivered by electrodes to one or more of the Heart chamber, chambers of ...

implantable cardioverter-defibrillator An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) is a device implantable inside the body, able to perform defibrillation, and depending on the type, cardioversion and pacing of the h ...

, and numerous other interventional medical procedures. Seldinger first published this technique for obtaining percutaneous access to blood vessels in 1953 for the publication ''Acta Radiologica''. This has been described as a "substantial refinement" of a procedure first described by Dr. P.L. Farinas in 1942. This new technique introduced the practice of using a flexible wire to guide a catheter to previous unreachable vascular areas of the body.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seldinger, Sven Ivar 1921 births 1998 deaths Swedish radiologists 20th-century Swedish inventors Karolinska Institute alumni People from Mora, Sweden

Biography

The Seldinger technique

See also

References