Cutler's Valvuotome
date: label: date made
content: ca 1924
name: label: maker
content: Codman & Shurtleff, Inc.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: The first successful operation for the relief of Mitral stenosis, a condition which causes the Mitral valve to stiffen and not fully open thereby restricting the flow of blood was performed on May 20, 1923 by Doctors Elliott Cutler (1888-1947) and Samuel Levine (1891-1966) on a young girl using a long narrow tenotomy knife.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Because of the tough nature of the calcification which leaves the valve stiff and unable to open and close properly Cutler saw the need for a stronger instrument.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Cardiovalvulotome or valvulotome was developed for just this operation. To punch into the tissue and secure pieces of calcification from the Mitral valve before floating away into the blood system and causing an embolism. The initial experiments were done on dogs. .
label: Description (Brief)
content: Cutler and Dr. Claude Beck (1894-1971) continued to experiment on dogs. Cutler and Beck operated on patients, but there were no more successes. Subsequent operations with the valvulotome were not successful
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Valvulotome is marked “Codman and Shurtleff, Boston, Stainless”.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Medical Procedure- Surgery
label: Subject
content: Cardiology
label: Subject
content: Surgical instruments
label: Subject
content: Surgery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Claude Beck, M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-10710
label: accession number
content: 256190
label: catalog number
content: M-10710
objectType: label: Object Name
content: valvulotome
label: Object Name
content: surgical instrument
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: stainless steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 cm x 4 cm; 8 9/32 in x 1 9/16 in