Starr-Edwards Artificial Aortic Heart Valve
date: label: date made
content: about 1964
name: label: maker
content: Edwards Laboratories
notes: label: Description
content: CarlJohn Petry (1938-2000) lived with this artificial aortic valve inside his heart for thirty-one years (1964-1995). The Starr-Edwards artificial heart valve replaced Petry’s damaged natural valve. It was later removed in 1995 when he underwent a heart transplant.
label: Description
content: CarlJohn Petry developed rheumatic fever as a teenager which resulted in his natural aortic valve wakening over time. At the age of 26 CarlJohn underwent surgery to replace his natural valve with an artificial Starr-Edwards valve. The donor of the valve Kipp Petry, CarlJohn’s son wrote about his father’s experience as he remembered it as a child. He remembers applying rubbing alcohol to his father’s scar which ran down the length of his chest. Kipp relates “At first I would freak out until Pop’s told me that was his ‘zipper’and putting the rubbing alcohol on it kept it ready for the doctor’s in case they ever needed to ‘unzip’ it.”
label: Description
content: Another phenomenon in the early days of heart valve replacement was the noticeable noise caused by the valve as the rubber ball rubbed against the metal cage. “I could hear Pop’s valve”, says Kipp <i>Shuuoop, shzzz, Shuuoop, shzzz<\i> His father replied <i>life making to(o) much noise again<\i>.
label: Description
content: In the early 1960’s valve replacement surgery was a relatively new procedure. Today traditional aortic replacement surgery does not necessarily require opening the chest and cracking apart the patients ribs to gain access to the heart. Under the right circumstances artificial heart valves can be implanted with minimally invasive surgery using smaller incisions and negotiating a catheter though the femoral artery to the heart.
label: Description
content: CarlJohn's old artificial heart valve is housed in a clear plastic specimen bottle with a white cap. Masking tape on the bottle is marked in black magic marker <i>Carl John Petry/1938 - 2000/ 1964 -1995<\i>. The white cap is marked <i>Happy Birthday 2017<|i>. According to CarlJohn's son Kipp the surgeon or the operating staff presented the patient with the valve. For his Birthday In 2017 Kipp's mother gave him his father's used artificial valve because he was the only one who had shown interest in it. The mark <i>1938-2000<\i> was probably added sometime after Carl John's death.
label: Description
content: The Starr-Edwards ball and cage aortic artificial heart valve Model 1000 has three stainless steel struts, and three stainless steel feet or stops. Inside the metal cage is a silicone rubber poppet or ball. The sewing ring is made of Teflon fabric and contains a silicone rubber insert for flexibility. This 1964 version is a modification of the original four strut model 1000.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Santa Ana
topic: label: Subject
content: Medicine
label: Subject
content: Cardiology
label: Subject
content: Surgery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Kipp Petry
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2019.0199.01
label: accession number
content: 2019.0199
label: catalog number
content: 2019.0199.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cardiology
label: Object Name
content: artificial heart valve
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: polytetraffluoroethylene (Teflon) (sewing ring material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (struts material)
label: Physical Description
content: silicone (ball material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.3 cm x 3.4 cm; 1 5/16 in x 1 11/32 in