• intervention

The first percutaneous coronary angioplasty was performed in September 1977 in Zurich, Switzerland.1 Less than 10 years later, intra-arterial stents were introduced as a viable treatment for coronary artery disease,2 and by 1994 coronary stenting was an established standard of care for percutaneous coronary intervention.3 4 This rapid growth and the resulting lives saved are impressive. However, interventional cardiology has grown into a field much broader and more complex than the opening of clogged arteries. It is now well accepted that an appropriately trained interventional cardiologist can replace leaky cardiac valves, close a patent foramen ovale, seal off atrial appendages, place electric leads to record the heart—or even defibrillate it, and completely alter a heart’s electrophysiological pathways with targeted ablation. The modern interventional cardiologist is not only a plumber, but also an electrician, and a carpenter. Which begs the question … what job titles might we consider for the future neurointerventionalist?

Given the brain and spine’s complexity, neurointervention has the potential to be an exceedingly diverse environment. While much of neurointervention’s foundation is rooted in the advent and growth of aneurysm coil embolization, we have …