Obituary – Richard Heuser

With 24 patents granted for different catheters stents and other medical devices, Dr Heuser served as a principal investigator to research the safety and/or effectiveness of more than 100 medical devices and 50 pharmaceutical products and participated in more than 100 research studies.He authored numerous articles, textbooks and medical manuscripts, and was frequently invited to international medical conferences to present findings of research originating in Phoenix.Dr Heuser developed the first catheter treatment for leakage of the mitral valve, which has presaged the catheter treatment that is now available routinely for narrowing or leakage of the mitral valve.His hydrophilic or "water loving" wire, co-developed with an engineer, is utilized in approximately 20% in all angioplasty procedures performed worldwide.The covered stent that Dr Heuser co-invented is currently used in every catheter lab worldwide that performs angioplasty and stenting.