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Review
. 2025 May 16;14(10):3499.
doi: 10.3390/jcm14103499.

Prosthetic Heart Valves: More than Half a Century of Innovation-An Overview

Asna Tabassum  1 , Katherine G Phillips  1 , Fadi Hage  2 , Ali Hage  1
Affiliations
Review

Prosthetic Heart Valves: More than Half a Century of Innovation-An Overview

Asna Tabassum et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Since Dr. Charles Hufnagel introduced the first ball-in-cage valve prosthesis in 1952 to treat a patient with aortic regurgitation, the field of valvular heart disease has undergone remarkable evolution in both prosthetic valve development and patient management. Over the past 73 years, a wide range of valvular prostheses have been developed, each offering distinct advantages in terms of durability, thrombogenicity, and hemodynamics. This review aims to provide a detailed discussion of commonly known and used valvular heart prostheses, along with a review of newer endovascular prostheses. As ongoing research and innovation continue to shape the field, we can expect further improvements in hemodynamics, clinical outcomes, cost, ease of operation, and patient quality of life.

Keywords: cardiac surgery; mechanical valves; prosthetic valves; transcatheter valve replacement; valve innovation; valve replacement; valvular heart disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests and have not received any funding for this research.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Early mechanical valves. (A) Ball-in-cage (Starr–Edwards); (B) Monoleaflet Medtronic-Hall tilting disc.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bileaflet mechanical valves. (A) St. Jude Medical (SJM). (B) ATS Medical. (C) On-X.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Stented biologic valve. (A) Medtronic Mosaic porcine valve; (B) Edwards PERIMOUNT pericardial bovine valve.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Stentless bioprosthetics. (A) Sorin Freedom SOLO (pericardial bovine); (B) Medtronic Freestyle (porcine).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Sutureless biologic valves (bovine pericardium). (A) Sorin Perceval S; (B) Edwards Intuity Elite.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Grafted prostheses. (A) Aortic valve homograft conduit; (B) On-X ascending aortic prosthesis—a composite valve.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Transcatheter aortic valves. (A) Edwards SAPIEN 3 balloon-expandable valve. (B) Medtronic Evolut self-expanding nitinol valve.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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