ABSTRACT
The designs of the early mechanical valves were of centrally occluding caged ball or caged disc valves. In 1960, Harken et al. reported the successful implantation of a caged ball valve in the subcoronary position for severe aortic insufficiency (3), while later that year Starr performed the first long-term successful mitral valve replacement with a caged ball valve (4). During the following five years, thousands of Starr-Edwards mitral and aortic valves made of a Stellite cage and a silicone rubber ball were implanted throughout the world with good overall results.
