Hufnagel Plastic Intracardiac Valve
date: label: date made
content: 1940s-1950s
name: label: maker
content: Hufnagel, Charles A.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This is a prototype of an artificial heart valve invented by pioneering heart surgeon Dr. Charles Hufnagel (1916-1989). Instead of an interior ball to help the blood flow in one direction, this valve has a tri-leaflet insertion. In 1952 Hufnagel and his team at Georgetown University invented and implanted the first successful artificial heart valve in a human. Hufnagel experimented with various materials but settled on polymethylmethacrylate, a hard, clear plastic more popularly known by the trade name of Plexiglas or Lucite.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The museum's collection of Hufnagel valves shows some of the early designs tested when first trying to produce a workable artificial heart valve.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Medicine
label: Subject
content: Prosthesis
label: Subject
content: Cardiology
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
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. Journal of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, Vol 11
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Charles A. Hufnagel, M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-11582.01
label: accession number
content: 267860
label: catalog number
content: M-11582.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cardiology
label: Object Name
content: heart valve, prosthetic
label: Object Name
content: artificial heart valve
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plexiglas (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/4 in x 1 1/2 in; 5.715 cm x 3.81 cm