Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan, Indian cardiac surgeon (Mavelikkara, Travancore today Kerala State 24 May 1934 – Manipal, Karnataka State 17 July 2024)

Authored over 100 scientific papers, several book chapters and 3 books

Reported the first case in literature in which the diagnosis was made during life and successful correction was carried out

With S.K. Nair, R. Subramanyan & C. Venkitachalan. Right aortic arch with isolation of the left subclavian artery and bilateral patent ductus arteriosus. A case report. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 33(2):242-4, 1992

Papers in top journals

With J.B. Lalonde & W.F. Ballinger II. Hepatic regulation of sodium and water in ascites. JAMA 187:117-8, 1964

Endomyocardial

Established the geochemical cause of endomyocardial fibrosis, i.e., cerium replaces magnesium in cardiac muscle due to deficiency of this element in poor children

With C.C. Kartha, J.T. Eapen, H.S. Dang & C.M. Sunta. A geochemical basis for endomyocardial fibrosis. Cardiovasc. Res. 23(7):647-8, 1989

With C.C. Kartha. Endomyocardial fibrosis – the possible connexion with myocardial levels of magnesium and cerium. Int. J. Cardiol. 28(1):1-5, 1990

With C. Kartha, R. Nair, K. Shivakumar & J.T. Eapen. Geochemical basis of tropical endomyocardial fibrosis. Curr. Sci. (1994)

With Vincent Gott discovered the thrombo-resistant property of surfaces coated sequentially with graphite, benzalkonium chloride and heparin (GBH)

DEVELOPED TECHNIQUES AND MEDICAL DEVICES

Chitra variflo oxygenator

With R. Sankarkumar, G.S. Bhuvaneshwar, R. Magotra, S. Muralidharan, R.S. Rajan et al. Chitra heart valve – results of a multicenter clinical study. J. Heart Valve Dis. 10(5):619-27, 2001

With G. Bhuvaneshwar, C.V. Muraleedharan, G.A. Vijayan & R.S. Kumar. Development of the Chitra tilting disc heart valve prosthesis. J. Heart Valve Dis. 5(4):448-58, 1996 (Chitra-TTK valve, a mechanical valve with a tilting disc design) 

With J. Chanda, S.B. Rao, M. Mohanty, C.V.Muraleedharan, V. Arthur & G. Bhuvaneshwar. Use of glutaraldehyde-gentamicin treated bovine pericardium as a wound dressing. Biomaterials 15(1):68-70, 1994 

With J. Chanda, S.B. Rao, M. Mohanty, A. Lal, C.V. Muraleedharan & G.S. Bhuvaneshwar. Prevention of calcification of tissue valves. Artif. Organs 18(10):752-7, 1994 (A method of chemical treatment to prevent the calcification of bioprosthetic heart valves)

With M. Unnikrishnan & J.T. Tolia. Postoperative ductal aneurysm. A technique for repair. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 29(4):406-7, 1988

With G. Lal, B. Chandran & G. Bhuvaneshwar. A porcine-model for heart-lung by-pass (1984)

With G.S. Bhuvaneshwar, V.S. Venkatesan, V.L. Pattankar, C.C. Kartha & A. Lal. Development of textile fabrics for surgical application. Ind. J. Med. Res. 74:580-5, 1981

With S. Topaz, M. Ameli, S.S. Morovati, B.G. Brown & V. Gott. Construction of a rigid case, double ventricle artificial heart (1967)

Interventions to reduce the severity of tropical endomyocardial fibrosis

The first biomaterial to be made with wall-bonded heparin for clinical applications

A series of disposable devices such as hydrocephalus shunt, blood bag, oxygenator, cardiotomy reservoirs, vascular graft and a GBH-coated shunt for resecting aneurysms of the thoracic aorta

A technique for thoracic aortic bypass using a graphite, benzalkonium chloride and heparin coated shunt  

HONOURS

Samuel P. Asper International Award, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2009)