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Heart of Carbon

The Story Behind the Pursuit of the Perfect Mechanical Heart Valve

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jack Bokros

    1. Georgetown, USA

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  • Describes how the first carbon heart valve replacement was developed
  • Covers advances made in 4D-MRI that provided the quantitative details of blood flow
  • Includes two appendices, one of a thesis by Ling Ma on the fundamental science

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Table of contents (33 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xli
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Overview

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 1-6

  3. Nuclear Foundations

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 7-16

  4. Origin and Characterization of Medical Carbons

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 17-24

  5. Gott’s Early Experience: A Lesson in Serendipity

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 25-36

  6. First Carbon Heart Valve Replacement

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 37-44

  7. First All-Carbon Mitral Valve Replacement

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 45-52

  8. Monoleaflet Tilting Disc Valves

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 53-66

  9. First Bileaflet Valve: St. Jude Medical Inc. Start-Up

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 67-70

  10. General Atomic Inc. Medical Products Division Sold to Intermedics Inc.

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 71-73

  11. CarboMedics Inc. Gets Acquainted with Intermedics Inc.

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 75-78

  12. CarboMedics Inc. Moves to Austin Texas

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 79-83

  13. The Hemex Inc. Venture

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 85-91

  14. The St. Jude Medical Inc. Litigation

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 93-96

  15. Broadening the Horizon

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 97-98

  16. Two Valves for China

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 99-115

  17. Negotiating Chinese Joint Venture

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 117-119

  18. European Company Buys Intermedics Inc.

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 121-124

  19. Medtronic Inc. Project

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 125-135

  20. Medical Carbon Research Institute LLC/On-X Life Technologies Inc.

    • Jack Bokros
    Pages 137-140
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Keywords

About this book

This book offers a historical account of the development of the On-X carbon mechanical heart valve, discussing the steps involved in developing the materials, and describes how the design of the valve has evolved over the years. It explores both the scientific and corporate problems researchers have encountered over the years in the journey of making a mechanical heart valve. The chapters provide a detailed description of the design of the mechanical leaflet-based prosthetic valve, with a particular focus on blood flow characteristics. This book includes an overview of the state-of-the-art in the chemistry and physics of carbon, and compiles the advances in carbon-based technology and its applications in cardiac and thoracic surgery.

This is an ideal book for bioengineers working on the chemistry and physics of carbon, and other professionals involved with cardiac and thoracic surgery.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Georgetown, USA

    Jack Bokros

About the author

Dr. Jack Bokros was employed as a Senior Research Engineer at Atomics International from 1955 to 1958. In 1958, he joined the staff of General Atomic Company to study materials for use in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. Dr. Bokros received his doctorate at the University of California. He was a member of the Scientific Laboratory Group of the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, where he conducted basic studies of phase transformation in metals, and then in 1963, he rejoined the staff at General Atomic Company in San Diego. During that time, he conducted basic and applied research into the preparation, structure and properties of carbon coatings and graphite and was concerned with the effects of fast neutron irradiation on these materials.  Subsequently, Dr. Bokros conducted basic and applied studies of carbonaceous materials for use in bioengineering.  The commercialization of this activity led to the formation of CarboMedics, Inc. with Bokros as its President.  In 1980, he established two subsidiaries, Intermedics Orthopedics, Inc. and Calcitek, Inc. to commercialize CarboMedic's porous metal, calcium hydroxyapatite, and carbon biomaterial technologies in the orthopedic and dental fields. In 1989, Bokros formed Carbon Implants, Inc., which was acquired by Medtronic, Inc. in 1994. In April of 1994, he formed the Medical Carbon Research Institute to develop advanced multileaflet cardiac valve prostheses incorporating On-X carbon, an improved and patented form of pyrolytic carbon.  In 2007, Medical Carbon Research Institute, LLC was converted to a C-corp and renamed On-X Life Technologies, Inc.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Heart of Carbon

  • Book Subtitle: The Story Behind the Pursuit of the Perfect Mechanical Heart Valve

  • Authors: Jack Bokros

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17933-4

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-17932-7Published: 02 January 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-17935-8Published: 03 January 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-17933-4Published: 01 January 2023

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XLI, 268

  • Number of Illustrations: 134 b/w illustrations, 30 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering, Cardiac Surgery, Engineering Fluid Dynamics, Physiology, Cardiology

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