 On January 16, 1964, Dotter percutaneously dilated a tight, localized stenosis of the subsartorial artery in an 82-year-old woman with painful leg ischemia and gangrene who refused leg amputation.After successful dilation of the stenosis with a guide wire and coaxial Teflon catheters, the circulation returned to her leg.The dilated artery stayed open until her death from pneumonia two and a half years later.