Aortic Valve Dilator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1951
name: label: maker
content: George P. Pilling and Son Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This aortic dilator designed by the donor Charles P. Bailey, M.D. (1911-1993) was used to widen calcified aortic leaflets, allowing blood to flow more freely through the Mitral valve. In 1948 Dr. Bailey a pioneering cardiac surgeon was the first to attempt an operation for Mitral commissurotomy. Upon reaching the heart Dr. Bailey slipped a finger inside the heart and opened the leaflets with a small knife. The surgery was performed "blind" going into the heart with his index finger with a blade attached and widening the valve. Bailey first four patients did not survive but the fifth patient was a success. First successful June 10, 1948.
label: Description (Brief)
content: After World War II physicians in Britain and the United States returned to the question of operating on the mitral valve to relieve stenosis. In Boston Dwight Harken, Russell Brock in England Horace Smithy in Charleston, SC.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Surgery
label: Subject
content: Cardiology
label: Subject
content: Medical Procedure- Surgery
label: Subject
content: Medicine
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 Charles P. Bailey, M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-11606
label: catalog number
content: M-11606
label: accession number
content: 267869
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cardiology
label: Object Name
content: dilator, aortic valve
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in x 11 3/4 in; 3.81 cm x 6.35 cm x 29.845 cm