Object Details
- St. Jude Medical
- Description
- This is a St. Jude Medical (SJM) mechanical demonstration heart valve. It is a bi-leaflet valve with four pivots. The SJM valve was the first all carbon valve in clinical use. All St. Jude valves would be made with pyrolytic carbon, a material and coating recognized for its biocompatibility and thromboresistance (avoidance of blood clots). It quickly became the 'gold standard' for subsequent valves regardless of the manufacture. A white cloth suture ring surrounds the aluminum valve. Etched into the bi-leaflet valve is the word DEMO. Also present are softened, rounded edges of the metal component to resolve prior issues with clotting and thrombus. The first surgical of a SJM artificial heart valve was carried out in October 1977.
- St. Jude Medical was founded by Manuel "Manny" Villafaña in 1976, in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. This popular bi-leaflet valve was developed at the University of Minnesota in 1972 by Dr. Demetre Nicoloff (1934-2003). It differed from previous valves because it was made of pyrolytic carbon, a material that was very durable and could last many years in the body. Dr. Jack Bokros, PhD, a nuclear engineer and founder of OnX Life Technologies Inc., developed this material. Manny Villafaña is a businessman whose first company was Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc.
- The label inside the jewelry box in which it is housed reads: "This demo valve has been/ made of anodized aluminum/ which, by its nature, does/ not allow us to machine to/ the necessary tolerances/ and polish of our all/ pyrolytic carbon valve./ It, in no way, manifests/ the true quality, finish, or/ operational characteristics/ of an St. Jude. Medical Valve,/ but only grossly demon-/strates its concept of/ function."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Manuel Villafaña
- 1976
- ID Number
- 2015.0031.01
- catalog number
- 2015.0031.01
- accession number
- 2015.0031
- Object Name
- cardiology
- artificial heart valve
- Physical Description
- anodized aluminum (valve material)
- dacron (valve material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1 cm x 3 cm x 3 cm x 3 cm; 13/32 in x 1 3/16 in x 1 3/16 in x 1 3/16 in
- container: 3 cm x 6.3 cm x 8.3 cm; 1 3/16 in x 2 15/32 in x 3 9/32 in
- place made
- United States: Minnesota, Saint Paul
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- Artificial Heart Valves
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Cardiology
- Prosthesis
- Artificial Organs
- Record ID
- nmah_1726248
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b2-149f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
