A prosthetic heart valve is a one-way valve implanted in a person's heart to replace a valve that is no longer working properly, keeping blood flowing in the correct direction through the heart and into the major vessels connected to it; a dysfunctional natural valve can cause stenosis, in which blood flow is obstructed, or regurgitation, in which blood leaks backward, either of which strains the heart and can lead to heart failure. The American inventor Miles Lowell Edwards is recognized as the first to create a truly safe and effective heart valve, a caged-ball design that the surgeon Albert Starr implanted in 1960, creating the Starr-Edwards valve, which went on to be used successfully in patients worldwide for the next 47 years, with one recipient's valve lasting 48 years before it needed replacement. An earlier design implanted by Charles Hufnagel in 1952 was never proven reliable enough for widespread adoption, which is why the Starr-Edwards valve, not Hufnagel's, is generally credited as the first clinically successful prosthetic heart valve.
Facts
SignificanceThe Starr-Edwards valve set a record for providing a single patient 48 years of service before it needed replacement, underscoring the long-term reliability that made it the first clinically successful prosthetic heart valve. 1 FAQs
Is a mechanical or a tissue prosthetic heart valve better?
Mechanical valves last longer but need lifelong blood thinners; tissue valves avoid that but wear out sooner.
Neither is better in every case, because each trades one strength for one drawback. Mechanical valves are more durable, lasting 20 to 30 years, but they raise the risk of blood clots, so people who receive them need anticoagulant drugs such as warfarin for the rest of their lives. Bioprosthetic tissue valves are less likely to cause clots and do not require lifelong anticoagulation, but they are less durable, typically lasting 10 to 20 years, so a second replacement is more likely.
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Source Artificial heart valve - Wikipedia
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1. Artificial heart valve - Wikipedia
First transplants section, Starr implantation paragraph
Edwards' design was surgically implanted by Albert Starr for the first time in 1960 and was successfully used to save heart patients around the world for the next 47 years.
First transplants section, Starr-Edwards record paragraph
The Starr-Edwards valve set a record for providing a patient 48 years of service before requiring replacement.
- In Group: Implantable Medical Devices, lead paragraph: prosthetic device implanted to replace a heart valve
In Field: Biomedical Engineering, Categories
Implants (medicine)
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