Hufnagel Leaflet Valve
date: label: date made
content: ca. 1960
name: label: maker
content: Brunswick Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This single heart leaflet or cusp was used to replace or supplement a compromised natural leaflet. One, two or three leaflets could be surgically implanted. The leaflets were made of polypropylene mesh and impregnated with silicone rubber. Charles A. Hufnagel, MD, the inventor believed polypropylene leaflets would be a better design solution than the ball and cage model because it provided better dynamics. He acknowledged that only a few of these leaflets worked well, "those leaflets were the only leaflets, I think, that really lasted for any significant length of time." The single leaflets were later used to develop a trileaflet valve which looked similar to a natural human valve.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Dr. Charles Hufnagel, (1916-1989) graduated in 1941 from Harvard Medical School. While a resident at Boston’ Children’s Hospital he worked with pioneer cardiac surgeon Dr. Robert Gross. In 1950 he left the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston to becoame the Director of Georgetown University Medical Research laboratory. In September 1952, he implanted the first artificial heart valve which consisted of a ball of plastic inside a chambered tube. Hufnagel also made significant contributions to the development of the modern heart-lung machine.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Quincy
topic: label: Subject
content: Cardiology
label: Subject
content: Artificial Organs
label: Subject
content: Prosthesis
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Artificial Heart Valves
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content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Manuel Villafaña
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0031.10
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0031.10
label: accession number
content: 2015.0031
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cardiology
label: Object Name
content: artificial heart valve
label: Object Name
content: artificial heart leaflet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: polypropylene mesh (leaflet material)
label: Physical Description
content: silicone rubber (leaflet material)
label: Measurements
content: leaflet: 1.7 cm x 2.2 cm; 21/32 in x 7/8 in