Doctor marks 50 years for heart valve

Fifty years ago, a young Oregon doctor performed the first successful artificial heart valve surgery.  And some of the early patients of Dr. Albert Starr are still living proof of the durability of the tiny mechanical device he developed with engineer Lowell Edwards.  The Oregonian reports that one of his patients, 70-year-old Philip Bryson of Portland, was just 25 when he underwent surgery for a defective heart valve and got the relatively new device.  That was 45 years ago, and the valve is still ticking away, just fine.  The 84-year-old Starr finally retired from surgical practice in 2006.