Who performed the first human heart catheterization in 1929 and reportedly used a Foley catheter?

• A. Werner Forssman
• B. Sven-Ivar Seldinger
• C. Mason Sones
• D. Wilhelm Roentgen

Answer: (A)

The event being tested is the first human heart catheterization and the use of a Foley catheter in the procedure. Werner Forssman, a German physiologist, performed the historic 1929 heart catheterization by passing a catheter through a vein into the right side of the heart. He reportedly used a Foley bladder catheter as the instrument for this maneuver, demonstrating that a catheter could reach the heart and allow intracardiac pressure measurement. This milestone showed that direct hemodynamic assessment inside the heart was possible, laying groundwork for invasive cardiology, even though the technique was not immediately embraced and later advances made vascular access safer and more practical.

Sven-Ivar Seldinger later devised the Seldinger technique in the 1950s, which revolutionized safe percutaneous access but came after Forssman’s pioneering, much less refined method. Mason Sones is associated with the accidental development of selective coronary angiography in 1958, not the first cardiac catheterization, and Wilhelm Roentgen is known for discovering X-rays, not for cardiac catheterization.