Object Details
- St. Jude Medical
- Description (Brief)
- The St. Jude artificial heart valve is a floating bileaflet valve with pivots near the central axis. The valve is made of pyrolyte carbon, a very durable and biocompatible material, and the cuff is made of Dacron. The orifice ring is made of machined graphite coated with pyrolytic carbon. The two leaflets are made of tungsten impregnated with graphite.
- After successful tests in calves, the first human implantation occurred in October 1977. Over a twelve month period, twenty-four patients received implants of the St. Jude valve in the aortic and the mitral positions.
- Manny Villafaña, the son of Puerto Rican immigrants founded St. Jude Medical Inc. in 1976. Villafaña had been approached by Xinon C. Posis, an engineer, and cardiologist Demetre Nicoloff of the University of Minnesota to test their design for a leaflet artificial heart valve. Villafaña and his engineers helped redesign the hinges.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Dr. Patrick K. C. Chun
- ca 1980
- ID Number
- 1981.0731.03
- accession number
- 1981.0731
- catalog number
- 1981.0731.03
- Object Name
- cardiology
- artificial heart valve
- Other Terms
- Surgery
- Physical Description
- carbon (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 7/8 in x 2 1/8 in x 2 3/8 in; 2.2225 cm x 5.3975 cm x 6.0325 cm
- place made
- United States: Minnesota, Saint Paul
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Artificial Heart Valves
- Health & Medicine
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Medicine
- Cardiology
- Prosthesis
- Artificial Organs
- Record ID
- nmah_735416
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-91dc-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
