Guinness world record

Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Hi Jack. I think the person you are referring to is a lady from England. I've seen her record in Guinness and, as I remember, her surgery was about 1-l/2 years after mine. I looked into trying for this record and had Guinness send me info for applying. I was not able to satisfy their documentation requirements after all these years so I didn't pursue it.......anyway, we already have a Guinness record holder in the family. My grandson-in-law holds the Guinness record for "fastest auto driven in reverse". I think it was a little over 100 mph . His name is Darren Manning, from England, who was an "open wheel" racing car driver before he married my grandaughter.
 
Here's what they say now.
"The longest surviving artificial heart-valve transplant patient is Doris Clare (b. 20 Sep 1926, UK), who received an aortic valve replacement on 30 April 1969, in Woolwich, London, UK, and as of 15 July 2013 has had it for 44 years, 76 days. "
 
Here's what they say now.
"The longest surviving artificial heart-valve transplant patient is Doris Clare (b. 20 Sep 1926, UK), who received an aortic valve replacement on 30 April 1969, in Woolwich, London, UK, and as of 15 July 2013 has had it for 44 years, 76 days. "
I take it that it was a mechanical valve ?
 
It had to be mechanical. Tissue valves don't hold up anywhere near as long.

Dick - it's a shame you couldn't document the surgery to satisfy the Guiness folks. And, Dick, do you know if there may have been others before you who got the valve implanted by the surgical team that did yours? (Of course, they may not have survived).

It would be interesting to see if the woman who 'set' the record is still around -- the record, according to what I see here, was established in 2013.
 
Those Starr Edwards valves are nothing short of amazing IMO , if you read the comments in the below there are a few Starr Edwards over 40+ yrs and a comment from I suspect Dick 9yrs ago. As well as several other valves of different styles over 30 yrs, and a gentleman who has had 8 valve surgeries.

My fathers bileaflet St Jude is on 35 years and still going strong.
I was 3 yrs younger than he was at surgery so I think I can top that 😜

https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com...ing-survivor-guinness-book-valve-replacement/
 
Dick - it's a shame you couldn't document the surgery to satisfy the Guiness folks. And, Dick, do you know if there may have been others before you who got the valve implanted by the surgical team that did yours? (Of course, they may not have survived).

My surgery was in the time before computers and "document files". All that remaines of my file at the hospital is a few documents that they had on "microfilm". The hospital did have the "operating room record" which was helpful a few years ago when I tried, and finally succeeded, in getting an ID card from Edwards Life Sciences (the manufacturer of my Starr-Edwards valve). At the time of my surgery there where only two hospitals in the entire state of Kentucky doing open heart surgery. One was the University Hospital of the University of Kentucky. My surgeon was a visiting professor, Dr. Gordon Danielson who left the University for the Mayo Clinic. The other surgeon, Dr. Richard Wood was in his final year of Residency at Uof Ky. He went on to become a Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Texas Heart Institute. I talked with Dr. Wood, by phone a few years ago, and asked him if he still did "valve replacements".....he laughed and said no....he said he left that kind of surgery to the "junior surgeons" and he did the heart replacement and heart-lung replacements now.
 
Those Starr Edwards valves are nothing short of amazing IMO , if you read the comments in the below there are a few Starr Edwards over 40+ yrs and a comment from I suspect Dick 9yrs ago.

The fella in the picture insert was Bob Baker. He was a member of this forum for several years and his "screen name" was RCB. He still shows up on the Member Directory but all of his posts (1100+) have been deleted? Bob was the first child (age 10) and the tenth person to receive an artificial valve in the early 1960s.. Bob died a couple years ago.

PS: My cardio also thinks the old Starr-Edwards ball valve is amazing and says it was built like a Sherman Tank. For you yung-uns the Sherman was the main battle tank of the USA during WW2 and the Korean War. That valve, with only a few updates, was produced by Edwards Lifescience until 2007......almost 50 years.
 
It never occurred to me that the picture was Bob Baker aka RCB, and I was thinking of Bob when I read the article. You mentioned that all RCB’s posts had been deleted. He insisted upon it when he left the forum. I’m not sure why, but he was a great source not only for information but also for inspiration.
 
I can’t claim any records, but I’ve had a St Jude valve since November 21, 1990. Unfortunately I had them update it when I had my aneurysm repaired in 2009. Stuck with St Jude but did the one piece conduit graft.

Coming up on 29 years this November and still a young 46 years old.
 
I remember reading somewhere St Jude started making bileaflet valves in the mid to late 70s but they weren’t happy with the quality of the pyrolitic carbon available at the time so started manfacturing it themselves.
I think they will give the sherman tanks a good run 😜
 
Last edited:
I've had my St. Jude since 8/21/91. Nowhere near a record for this one - it was fairly standard issue by the time I got it.

Of course, this one may have been special. It was taken from a Chimpanzee who died from eating too many rotten bananas, sterilized, cleaned, and put into this other simian's chest.
 
Italian surgeons discover 'world's oldest heart valve' in woman
Prosthesis was implanted by the pioneering doctor Christiaan Barnard 50 years ago...

Not so. This lady had surgery in 1969. I had surgery Aug. 16, 1967. No big deal but I still have "bragging rights". Since she is now about 60 and I am 83 she probably will have "the oldest valve" someday. BTW, mine is documented by Edwards Lifesciences:
Implant date: 16-Aug-1967
Model: UNK-STARREW
Serial No.: UNK-178

Goes to show how long mechanical valves can, and do, last. Wouldn't surprise me if there are a few valves that were implanted in the early/mid '60s that continue to clickety click. :LOL:
 
Not so. This lady had surgery in 1969. I had surgery Aug. 16, 1967. No big deal but I still have "bragging rights". Since she is now about 60 and I am 83 she probably will have "the oldest valve" someday. BTW, mine is documented by Edwards Lifesciences:
Implant date: 16-Aug-1967
Model: UNK-STARREW
Serial No.: UNK-178

Goes to show how long mechanical valves can, and do, last. Wouldn't surprise me if there are a few valves that were implanted in the early/mid '60s that continue to clickety click. :LOL:
Good point dick0236! You are our hero and get to own that record! I wonder if they were referring to the longest valve being in a woman (gender!)???? Well, we should contact the Guardian and let them know they got it wrong or that is the record for a 'woman'. I wonder what valve she has in the mitral position?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top