Claudio J. Schonholz (born 1956 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

) is an

interventional radiologist Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that performs various minimally-invasive procedures using medical imaging guidance, such as x-ray fluoroscopy, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultrasound. IR performs both ...

, the first in the United States to perform minimally invasive aortic aneurysm surgery (

stent graft In medicine, a stent is a tube usually constructed of a metallic alloy or a polymer. It is inserted into the lumen (hollow space) of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open. Stenting refers to the placement of a stent. The wor ...

procedure) together with Drs. Frank Veith, Juan C. Parodi and

Michael L. Marin Michael L. Marin (born 1956) is an American vascular surgeon. Together with Drs. Frank Veith, Juan C. Parodi and Claudio J. Schonholz, he was the first in the United States to perform Minimally invasive procedure, minimally invasive aortic aneur ...

Education

Schonholz was born in

. He attended the National College of Buenos Aires and graduated with honors from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

in 1980. Following it, he did residency in

diagnostic radiology Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to revea ...

as well as in

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 ...

and

interventional radiology Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that performs various minimally-invasive procedures using medical imaging guidance, such as Fluoroscopy, x-ray fluoroscopy, CT scan, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultraso ...

at the Centre Cardiologuique du Nord in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. While there, he worked with professors

Michel Tonnelier Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

and

Francis Besse Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie29 ...

and helped them with the development of

digital subtraction angiography Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is a fluoroscopy technique used in interventional radiology to clearly visualize blood vessels in a bony or dense soft tissue environment. Images are produced using contrast medium by subtracting a "pre-cont ...

Career

Dr. Schonholz eventually became private practitioner in his hometown with a team of

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

s that specialize in

interventional cardiology Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. Andreas Gruentzig is considered the father of interventional cardiology after the development of angioplast ...

and

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...

. During one such days, Schonholz and his colleague, Luis Augusto Lemme Plaghos, introduced many neurointerventional procedures in Argentina such as

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

embolization Embolization refers to the passage and lodging of an embolus within the bloodstream. It may be of natural origin ( pathological), in which sense it is also called embolism, for example a pulmonary embolism; or it may be artificially induced ...

to cure

arteriovenous malformation An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system. Usually congenital, this vascular anomaly is widely known because of its occurrence in the central nervous system (usually ...

. In 1989, Schonholz met with Juan C. Parodi in a nearby hospital where Parodi worked as a

vascular surgeon Vascular surgery is a surgical subspecialty in which vascular diseases involving the arteries, veins, or lymphatic vessels, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. The specialty evolve ...

. Dr. Parodi suggested him to join his project on

which he plans to use on patients who are in higher risk of developing

abdominal aortic aneurysm Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a localized enlargement of the abdominal aorta such that the diameter is greater than 3 cm or more than 50% larger than normal. An AAA usually causes no symptoms, except during rupture. Occasionally, abdo ...

s. Knowing Dr. Schonholz's work on carotid angioplasty, they merged forces in 1990 and became the first team of physicians to use stent graft to treat a human with abdominal aortic aneurysm. The novel procedure was performed at the Buenos Aires Cardiovascular Institute, and was later proven to be innovative and minimally invasive. Their invention was so unique to the world, that Dr. Schonholz and his team were invited to

Nancy, France Nancy is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, annexed by France under King Louis X ...

where they met with Michel Henry and Max Amor and demonstrated their invention at the 2nd International Course of Peripheral Vascular Intervention. In 1992, Schonholz and his team went to the

Montefiore Medical Center Montefiore Einstein Medical Center is an academic medical center that is the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City. Its main campus, the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, is in the Norwo ...

Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System. Einstein hosts Doc ...

in New York where they joined Frank Veith and

to perform first stent graft procedure in the United States. In 2000, Schonholz joined the Department of Radiology at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and later became its director of vascular and

. Four years later, Dr. Schonholz joined the faculty of the Department of Radiology of the

Medical University of South Carolina The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened in 1824 as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities acros ...

in Charleston, South Carolina where he still works at its Heart and Vascular Center.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonholz, Claudio J. 1956 births Living people American vascular surgeons University of Buenos Aires alumni Louisiana State University faculty Argentine emigrants to the United States