Hall-Kaster Heart Valve
date: label: date made
content: after 1977
name: label: maker
content: Medtronic
notes: label: Description
content: The Hall-Kaster is a pivoting disc heart valve prostheses that began manufacture in 1977. It has open ended struts to prevent the buildup of thrombus, and a pivotal disc mechanism designed to split the orifice into two equal parts when opened. There were no welds, joint, or bends that could weaken the valves structure after years of use. The disc opens to 75 degrees with an aperture in center, made of graphite substrate and tantalum (the latter makes the disc radiopaque.) It is coated in pyrolytic carbon. The valve is housed in a titanium ring, with a sewing ring made of knitted Teflon. The valve was successful, with regurgitation in 4 of 160 patients. At least 183,000 aortic and 122,000 mitral valves were implanted worldwide with no reports of structural failure.
label: Description
content: The valve was developed by Dr. Karl Victor Hall (1917- ), chairman of Department of Surgery at Rikshospitalet in Oslo, Norway, and Robert Kaster, an electrical engineering with a degree from the University of Minnesota (1951). He became interested in designing prostheses while working in Dr. C. Walton Lillehei's laboratory. It was there that he designed the tilting disc valve known as the Lillehei-Kaster valve.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Minnesota, Minneapolis
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: 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: 2015.0031.46
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0031.46
label: accession number
content: 2015.0031
label: model number
content: A770025AHK
label: serial number
content: 25A7805032
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cardiology
label: Object Name
content: artificial heart valve
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: graphite substrate (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: tantalum (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: pyrolytic carbon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: titanium (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: Teflon (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.5 cm x 2.9 cm x 2.9 cm; 19/32 in x 1 5/32 in x 1 5/32 in