Heart Valve Museum
Artificial heart valve prostheses have saved the lives of countless patients worldwide for over half a century. They are perceived by some as mystical objects and by others as simple backflow valves. The truth lies somewhere in between, but no one can argue with their importance and presence. At the Helmholtz Institute in Aachen we have a long history of developing and testing heart valves prostheses.
One of the fascinating aspects that becomes apparent when browsing through our collection is the diversity of the approaches physicians and engineers have taken over the years to build the ideal heart valve. There are great examples of creativity, ingenuity and thoughtful optimization. Some concepts may leave you in disbelief and only very few of them were actually successful, but all deserve to be preserved to be admired by interested spectators like you.
Have fun browsing through the collection!
This collection was started by Maximilian Kuetting and Christoph Schmitz. A special thanks goes out to Thorsten Epping for the photos.