Stent inventors visit Santa Rosa

<p>Dr. Julio Palmaz didn't think he was making medical history in 1978 when he invented the coronary stent, a tiny tube-like device that keeps blood flowing in millions of heart patients. </p><p>“I never attached any value to the thing,” he recalled Wednesday. “It was just an interesting project for me.”</p><p>His invention would spawn a $5 billion global industry and change the way doctors treat heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. </p><p>It would also create a thriving med-tech sector in Sonoma County, where Medtronic Inc., the world's largest medical device maker, is developing next-generation stent technology. </p><p>Palmaz and co-inventor Dr. Richard Schatz visited Santa Rosa on Wednesday to meet with employees at Medtronic. “These guys are heroes in the medical field,” said Medtronic spokesman Joe McGrath. </p><p>A stent is a wire mesh scaffold that keeps arteries open after they're cleared of fatty plaque in a procedure known as angioplasty. It is delivered to the trouble spot on a catheter that snakes through a patient's artery. There, it is expanded in place using a tiny balloon. </p><p>Such minimally-invasive procedures allow patients to avoid risky open-heart surgery. Stents made news earlier this month when two of them were implanted in former President Bill Clinton's clogged artery.</p><p>A native of Argentina, Palmaz trained in the U.S. as a vascular radiologist. He got the idea for his stent after hearing a presentation on angioplasty. The procedure opened clogged arteries, but they could re-clog over time. </p><p>Palmaz began experimenting in his garage with designs for an implantable device that could expand and remain rigid inside the artery. </p><p>He had a breakthrough when he spotted a piece of metal lath on the floor. With its staggered openings, it could be compressed and then hold its shape when expanded. </p><p>After years of testing, Palmaz approached several companies about developing the product, but they weren't interested. </p><p>That's when Schatz, a cardiologist, introduced him to Phil Romano, the founder of a Texas hamburger chain. Romano, who later started Romano's Macaroni Grill, provided seed money for the project. </p><p>Others were working on the problem, using tiny springs and coils. But Palmaz's design was clearly superior, Schatz said Wednesday.</p><p>“Julio was a hundred years ahead of everyone else,” he said. “No one has improved on it.” </p><p>There were obstacles, including worries about blood clots, bleeding and re-clogging. There were struggles with regulators about the work needed to prove the stent was safe and effective. </p><p>“Every day was a huge adventure,” Schatz said. </p><p>But after successful tests on animals, the Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent was first implanted in a human in 1987 in Brazil. </p><p>The technology was then licensed to medical giant Johnson & Johnson, which later bought their patent. The device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for peripheral arteries in 1991 and coronary arteries in 1994. </p><p>More than a million stents based on their technology are implanted in patients each year. Palmaz now lives in Napa, where he owns Palmaz Vineyards. </p><p>Medtronic started making stents in Sonoma County in 1999, after acquiring Santa Rosa's Arterial Vascular Engineering for $3.7 billion — one of the largest buyouts in county history. It has 840 employees in Santa Rosa. </p><p>Last year, Medtronic settled a royalty dispute with Johnson & Johnson over a license for the Palmaz-Schatz technology.</p>