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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 ...

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 atrium (heart), atria (upper chambers) of the heart. Some flow is a normal condition both pre-birth and immediately post-birth via the Foramen ovale (heart) ...

, a common

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

s found in infants. These devices are inserted by percutaneous catheter placement, thus avoiding open heart surgery. 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 Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Early life and education

Kurt Amplatz was born on February 25, 1924, in

Weistrach Weistrach is a town in the district of Amstetten (district), Amstetten in Lower Austria in Austria. Geography Weistrach lies in the Mostviertel in Lower Austria. About 16.48 percent of the municipality is forested. References

Cities a ...

. He was raised in

Senftenberg Senftenberg ( German, ) or (Lower Sorbian, ) is a town in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, in eastern Germany, capital of the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district. Geography Senftenberg is located in the southwest of the historic Lower Lusatia region at t ...

and later in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal 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 Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

. He attended the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

, 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 university, public research university in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,500 students in undergraduate medical ed ...

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 a medical school at the University of Minnesota. It is a combination of three campuses located in Minneapolis, Duluth, and St. Cloud, Minnesota. The medical school has more than 17,000 alumni as of 2 ...

. 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 ...

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 the industries of technology and healthcare, primarily in the United States. WCAS has a current ...

, acquired more than half of the company. The company was sold to

St. Jude Medical St. Jude Medical, Inc. was an American global medical device company headquartered in Little Canada, Minnesota, U.S., a suburb of Saint Paul. The company had more than 20 principal operations and manufacturing facilities worldwide with products ...

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