On Jan. 16, 1964, Dr. Charles T. Dotter at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), considered the father of interventional radiology, performed the world’s first percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, a procedure in which a tapered Teflon catheter was used to open a blocked artery with the help of a live X-ray shown on a television monitor.

The procedure allowed Laura Shaw, an 82-year-old woman to keep her gangrene-ravaged left foot, which was nearly amputated due to a blocked artery. Her pain disappeared within a week and the ulcer soon healed.