Tag Archives: valve

Figure 1. The Ionescu-Shiley pericardial xenografts Material choice It was a stroke of Ionescu’s genius, industry and tenacity that among all the materials available at the time, such as polyurethane, ivalon, fascia lata and dacron, he finally chose glutaraldehyde-treated bovine pericardium to construct his valves. To arrive at this point Marian Ionescu had already been on a 14-year journey of invention, which started in 1957 and included the three-pronged coronet design of the aortic valve used to this day. Over the last five decades, we have now realised that the pericardium has four unique defining characteristics – pliability, durabil