St. Jude Medical Artificial Heart Valve
date: label: date made
content: 1976
name: label: maker
content: St. Jude Medical
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Minnesota, Saint Paul
topic: label: Subject
content: Cardiology
label: Subject
content: Prosthesis
label: Subject
content: Artificial Organs
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Artificial Heart Valves
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Manuel Villafaña
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0031.01
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0031.01
label: accession number
content: 2015.0031
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cardiology
label: Object Name
content: artificial heart valve
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: anodized aluminum (valve material)
label: Physical Description
content: dacron (valve material)
label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: 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