Aortic Valve Dilator
Aortic Valve Dilator
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- Description (Brief)
- This aortic dilator designed by the donor Charles P. Bailey, M.D. (1911-1993) was used to widen calcified aortic leaflets, allowing blood to flow more freely through the Mitral valve. In 1948 Dr. Bailey a pioneering cardiac surgeon was the first to attempt an operation for Mitral commissurotomy. Upon reaching the heart Dr. Bailey slipped a finger inside the heart and opened the leaflets with a small knife. The surgery was performed "blind" going into the heart with his index finger with a blade attached and widening the valve. Bailey first four patients did not survive but the fifth patient was a success. First successful June 10, 1948.
- After World War II physicians in Britain and the United States returned to the question of operating on the mitral valve to relieve stenosis. In Boston Dwight Harken, Russell Brock in England Horace Smithy in Charleston, SC.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- cardiology
- dilator, aortic valve
- date made
- ca 1951
- maker
- George P. Pilling and Son Company
- place made
- United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
- Physical Description
- steel (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in x 11 3/4 in; 3.81 cm x 6.35 cm x 29.845 cm
- ID Number
- MG.M-11606
- catalog number
- M-11606
- accession number
- 267869
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles P. Bailey, M.D.
- subject
- Surgery
- Cardiology
- Medical Procedure- Surgery
- Medicine
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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