21 September, 2010 is the 50th Anniversary!

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Mentu

Premium Level User
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Nov 9, 2008
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My surgery was performed at Oklahoma Heart Institu
Tomorrow, my heart valve completes its first year. In the course of doing a little research, it turns out that tomorrow is a day we can all celebrate.

Philip Admunson Sep 1960.jpg

On 21 September, 1960, Dr Albert Starr implanted the first successful artificial heart valve to replace Philip Amundson's failing mitral valve. Mr Amundson, as many of you know, was near death at the time but that first cage in ball valve restored his health and he lived for another 15 years when he died after falling from a ladder.

The surgery was performed at the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland. Mr Amundson was a 52 year old farmer dying from a scarred and deformed heart valve as a result of childhood rheumatic fever. The procedure went well and newspapers throughout the world reported the success of the “miraculous” heart surgery. By all accounts, Mr Amundson enjoyed a healthy and productive life until his sudden death. That first valve was designed by Dr Starr working with Mr Lowell Edwards, an electrical engineer interested in building an artificial heart.

I think it is always good to know where we came from and what we are apart of, so, 21 September, 1960; the birth of our community!

If you would like to read more, here is a link to the best article I found and from which the photo is taken and much of the information:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC325574/pdf/thij00023-0065.pdf


Happy 50th Anniversary, Everyone, Happy Philip Amundson Day!
 
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Hi Mentu,
It's hard to believe that one year has gone by since your AVR (I am not too far behind you :)!
My sincere wishes for many, many more years of good health.
How special that you are celebrating with the big 50th!
 
Thank you for posting this article. It was about this time that I began to ask my docs about this type of surgery so I must have seen some of these articles back then. I was told to wait since the surgery was very new and considered very difficult. Less than seven years later, Aug 1967, I had a similar surgery using the same valve.

I think of Mr. Admunson as the first recipient, but he was actually #2. He IS the first successful "valver" to live more than 3 months. The interesting sidelite is that he did live 15 years and died when he fell off a ladder while painting his house....and not due to valve failure.
 
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A great anniversary to celebrate. I'd say falling off a ladder at 67 is better than dying of heart failure at 52.
 
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