Excerpt from Foreword by

Prof RWM Frater :

"... a monumental task but a most worthy one. The range of ingenuity sometimes imitating nature and sometimes ignoring her that has been displayed in the design of the mechanisms, and the endless search for materials that will match and survive the conditions of the human body, are all on display. This book will serve as a memorial to the creativity and perseverance of those who have tried and failed to find the perfect valve and yet who by their efforts have prolonged the lives of so many victims of heart valve disease. It can be an inspiration to those who will in the future finally reach that goal..."

Opinions...

...Dr Amit Banerjee's book is an excellent and very complete description of the development of an artificial heart valves.

Prof Viking Olov Björk
Professor in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

This book is a magnum opus which will go down in the annals of cardiothoracic surgery as a peerless work of historical research and exposition.

Prof Hari Gautam
President, National Academy of Medical Sciences (India)
Past President, Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons;
Former Chairman, University Grant Commission.

.....presented in a format so totally different..... The author takes us on a journey divided into chronologic eras with the marvellous descriptions of the cardiac valve under discussion along with other supplementary information that makes it a fascinating reading. ....presents each valve in a very straightforward manner along with just the right amount of supplementary material to make it pertinent..... will remain a remarkable piece of work for resource and reference for the next several years.

Prof W Gerald Rainer
Historian and Past President , Society of Thoracic Surgeons, USA

....must be the most extensive volume on heart valves ever produced. The most impressive thing ... is how it reflects the ingenuity and tenacity of cardiac surgeons and their engineering colleagues as westrive for the perfect valve prosthesis. My congratulations to Dr. Banerjee for his encyclopedic work on this subject.

Prof Thomas B Farguson
Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Washington University
School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA;
Former Editor, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery

.....truly a Herculean task executed by the author.... the author weaves with excellence the information provided about the various stages of development of the prostheses. This book should help towards a better understanding of the mechanics of valve prostheses by the student as he graduates to a consultant surgeon.... should be made available in all departmental libraries of cardiovascular surgeons.

Prof N Gopinath
Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery,
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India;
Past President, Association of Thoracic and
Cardiovascular Surgeons of India

....It provides competent coverage of the development of heart valves and is historically accurate.

Sir Donald N Ross
Emeritus Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Royal Brompton
National Heart and Lung Hospital, London UK

Dr. Amit Banarjee is professor of cardiovascular-thoracic surgery at the Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, New Delhi, a postdoctoral training institution devoted to higher medical specialities. It is affiliated to Delhi University and associated with Maulana Azad Medical College - rated as one of the best medical colleges in India. Born in 1949, he completed his graduate and postgraduate medical education from this college. He qualified as a cardiothoracic surgeon in 1980 from the institution he serves today.

Dr Banarjee's area of special interest include surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation associated with valvular heart disease and noncoronary open heart operations on beating heart. He is a former editor of the Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Delving into history of cardiac surgery, especially the evolution of equipment, instruments and devices, constitutes Dr Banerjee's favourite pastime. He is also a keen student of medical philately. He was instrumental in conceptualising perhaps the one and only postage stamp commemorating the Centenary of Cardiac Surgery, released by His Excellency the President of India in 1996.