A naval aviator and flight surgeon, Chuck Kerber was seriously injured in an airplane accident and was hospitalized for more than 2 years, yet he overcame such adversity to become one of the greatest innovators in the field of endovascular neurosurgery.

Kerber was one of the first interventionists to utilize the liquid embolic material of cyanoacrylate glue and performed the first arteriovenous malformation embolization with radiolucent isobutyl cyanoacrylate in 1974.

Subsequently in 1979, he successfully opacified the isobutyl cyanoacrylate glue and made it radiopaque and visualizable during angiography.

Additionally, he invented the calibrated-leak balloon catheter, which allows flow-directed placement of the catheter with the balloon inflated and distal fluid delivery with a calibrated leak.

These catheters could still be used effectively today. Among Kerber’s other achievements were his expertise in treating carotid-cavernous fistula by detachable balloons and carotid angioplasty, which he was the first to perform in 1980 and which was the ancestor to modern-day carotid angioplasty and stenting.