Alain Carpentier at the AATS meeting in 1983

I was in Atlanta in 1983 and Alain Carpentier deserved a standing ovation

Then in 1980 the Carpentier-Edwards stented pericardial and porcine valves were created.  The valve tissue is sewn onto a metal mesh stent and formed into the tri-leaflet valve shape.  Then the tissue is covered with Dacron to ensure correct suturing to heart.

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~rjb56/history.htm