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I'm Michele Lyons.
I'm the curator at the NIH Stetten Musuem.
We're part of the Office of NIH History.
And this is Hank Grasso, who is the other half of our team.
He is our exhibit content developer and designer.
Today we're going to be showing you some objects from an exhibit
which will be opening up by the end of March on the development
of artificial heart valves.
NIH became a huge center in the heart valve evolution because the
operating facility had the ability to capture data in a way that no
one else could. The surgeons of the time remarked that they could
do any catheterization process right during an operation.
So models were sent here, different kinds of prototypes from
all over, to see how well they held up and how well they were
relatively performing.
Nina Braunwald developed this ---it's a mitral valve --- it's
made out of polyurethane.
Braunwald was significant because she was the first
woman thoracic surgeon.
When she designed it she designed it to mimic a natural heart
valve, so you see it has a little slit in the middle, so you could open up
and close just like a real heart valve does.
It was situated in the heart using the dacron ties.
It was the first mitral valve successfully implanted in a human
in 1960.
The patient lived for a little over a month, but it proved that that valve
could be successfully replaced.
These are an example of a ball and caged valve.
What is unique is that to make them less thrombogenic or to
generate less blood clots, Dr. Braunwald would sew a fabric
covering over the metal stents that hold the ball in place --- the cage.
This valve --- the Reece-Hancock --- it is a valve from a pig, a porcine
valve that is stretched over stents that hold it in position so that it can
be installed with a sewing ring.
The current day research might best be that of Dr. Keith Horvath.
His research is in the use of a self-expanding stent to which he sews a
porcine or pig valve.
The flexible stent is a design that springs open to be a structural
support, but collapses to allow it to be threaded through a catheter.
In order to get from a large diameter of the expanded stent with
the valve attached to the small diameter required to go through the
catheter, this unique little apparatus was designed to
collapse the diameter.
You press down on the arm to slowly decrease the opening within
this container.
So you thread the stent and valve inside and then compress it in
order to reduce its diameter for use.
The other part that is remarkable about Dr. Horvath's work is the use
of a real time MRI to be able to see and measure exact sizes of valves
and the details as he's operating.