1948

Charles Bailey (Hahnemann Hospital) performs first successful surgery of stenotic mitral valve using a knife attached to his finger like an extended claw (valvulotome), but surgeons soon found that this approach, while alleviating stenosis, often prevented the valve from closing fully, resulting in valve regurgitation, and opted for Souttar’s “finger-fracture” technique of using a forefinger to break open the fused valve leaflets. Further improvement came in 1954, when French surgeon Charles Dubost invented a dilator more efficient than finger in opening stenotic valves (Morris, loc 2280ff.).