Anders Lunderquist was born in Lycksele, a small town in the northern part of Sweden, in 1925. His interest in research started early during his medical studies at the University of Lund, Sweden, where he was part of a research group developing the “artificial kidney”. Consequently, he started his career in nephrology, but realized luckily that radiology was a better option and started his training in a small county hospital in Kalmar, Sweden. Later, he practiced mostly at the Lund University Hospital. Among his visiting professorships he served in Gainesville, Philadelphia, US and Perth, Australia.
In the era prior to advanced diagnostic tools, his main interest became diagnostic angiography and subsequently the development of different interventional methods. He was a pioneer in the percutaneous treatment of portal hypertension and biliary diseases. In 1965 he presented his thesis ”Angiography in carcinoma of the pancreas”. One of his most revolutionary publications at this time was the report of percutaneous embolization of oesophageal varices. Due to his research achievements, Lund became a world-renowned interventional centre, with many visitors from all over the world. Porf. Lunderquist was interested in medical technology, and developed various new tools for IR use, i.e. the super stiff guidewire, known to most interventional radiologists as the “Lunderquist guidewire”.
As author of 180 publications, Prof. Lunderquist continued his research activities after his retirement, both within the field of IR and later in the treatment of ischaemic lesions in the brain. He was also one of the initiators and organizers of CIRSE.
Professor Lunderquist had an outstanding personality and a great educational interest, always willing to support and share his knowledge with less experienced colleagues. He organized practical IR courses both in Sweden and internationally.
Due to his astonishing achievements, he was honoured all over the world, receiving doctor honoris causa titles from several universities. He was invited as a visiting professor and awarded honorary memberships in several organisations. Prof. Lunderquist received the SIR Gold Medal in 1998 and the CIRSE Gold Medal in 1999.
Survived by his daughter Marianne and grandson Anders with family, he passed away in Lund on December 12th.