Person with Longest Lasting Mechanical Valve

[Lisa from LJ]

My brother and I were discussing the person with the longest lasting mechanical valve. He has had the same aortic valve since 1993 and I've had the same mitral valve since 1998. The reason for our valves was totally unrelated - his congenital and mine Rheumatic Fever.

I remembered Robert Brown who used to be a member on this site as he's in the Guinness Book of World Records, but his record was longest surviving valve recipient and his longest lasting valve was his 3rd aortic valve and lasted from 1982-2016, when he passed away at 67. Prior to that, he had mechanical aortic valves in 1960 and 1964 and then later had a mechanical mitral valve.

After ruling him out, I remembered Dick0236 from this page and found that he recently reported that he has had the same mechanical aortic valve for 57 years now, since 1967. About the same time, my brother discovered the Guinness World Record is held by Elizabeth Cameron in the UK who got a mechanical mitral valve in 1969. She was still alive as of 2023.

Dick, it seems like you should hold the record. Have you applied?

 

[Chuck C]

I'll let @dick0236 give you his answer, but he is the world record holder for longest lasting mechanical valve. It would be great to see him recognized by Guinness, but there is a documentation issue.

 

[Lisa from LJ]

I'll let @dick0236 give you his answer, but he is the world record holder for longest lasting mechanical valve. It would be great to see him recognized by Guinness, but there is a documentation issue.

Thanks. It seems that if he can get the documentation issue cleared up, he could be both the longest with the same valve and the longest surviving as Robert survived "only" 56 years after his first mechanical valve replacement.