He performed the procedure by putting himself under local anesthesia and inserting a catheter into a vein of his arm all by his own. He only had the operating-room nurse to his assistance and managed to capture an X-ray as proof. Forsmann was aware that his life was at stake and during the experiment he could pierce a vain and kill himself. With absolutely no regard to his life, Forssmann carried out the procedure to prove a point. He later on won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contributions to cardiac catheterization.