Double prosthetic aortic valve. Late aortic erosion by Hufnagel valve

This is a case report of a patient who had one of the first Hufnagel ball-valve prostheses inserted in 1954 for severe aortic incompetence. He obtained relief of symptoms for 14 years before recurrence necessitated the insertion of a Starr-Edwards valve. The patients was symptom-free for another seven years before the original valve, which had been left in place, caused his death by eroding through the aorta.