Normally functioning cooley-cutter mechanical prosthesis associated with ascending aorta aneurysm 39 years after implantation

The Cooley-Cutter prosthesis is a caged-disc mechanical heart valve introduced by Dr Cooley in the 1960s. Although the valve has been implanted worldwide in more than 3,000 patients, there is a lack of detailed data on its long-term performance, only anecdotal reports. We report the case of a patient who had undergone aortic valve replacement with a Cooley-Cutter prosthesis 39 years earlier for rheumatic disease on a tricuspid aortic valve and in whom a proximal aortic aneurysm had subsequently developed.