- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Bhagavant Kalke

Born  
Died  

Related eponyms

Indian surgeon in the United States.

Biography of Bhagavant Kalke

Bhagavant Kalke, a surgical resident from India, worked with C. Walton Lillei at the at the University of Minnesota. In 1965 he proposed to Lillehei a design based on the configuration of irrigation dams from Dr. Kalke's native India. Together Lillehei and Kalke developed a valve with two leaflets, hinged at the top and bottom to allow them to open and close with the flow of blood. Laboratory test showed that this valve showed the best hydrodynamic performance Lillehei had witnessed.

However, the only patient to receive this valve, in 1968, died two days after surgery, but the cause of death was not established. The Lillehei-Kalke bilieaflet prosthesis was the forerunner of the St. Jude prosthesis, which is widely implanted heart valve in the world.

What is an eponym?

An eponym is a word derived from the name of a person, whether real or fictional. A medical eponym is thus any word related to medicine, whose name is derived from a person.

What is Whonamedit?

Whonamedit.com is a biographical dictionary of medical eponyms. It is our ambition to present a complete survey of all medical phenomena named for a person, with a biography of that person.

Disclaimer:

Whonamedit? does not give medical advice.
This survey of medical eponyms and the persons behind them is meant as a general interest site only. No information found here must under any circumstances be used for medical purposes, diagnostically, therapeutically or otherwise. If you, or anybody close to you, is affected, or believe to be affected, by any condition mentioned here: see a doctor.