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Previous Volume 328:1345-1346 May 6, 1993 Number 18 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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"Whatever you say, you say nothing." When I was asked to write an editorial on my personal experiences with heart-valve surgery, that pithy phrase of Seamus Heaney, succinctly expressing the Catholic code of silent speech in Northern Ireland, came to mind. That code had leapt from Belfast to the town where I grew up, a working-class community of hills, mills, and churches in Massachusetts. The code was strong enough so that during the time I possessed my native aortic valve (which I will here term the era of valve I), few people other than my family knew of my illness. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Emery, R. W., Emery, A. M., Knutsen, A., Raikar, G. V. (2008). Aortic Valve Replacement with a Mechanical Cardiac Valve Prosthesis. Card Surg Adult 3: 841-856 [Full Text]  
• Elkins, R. C. (1994). Pulmonary Autograft -- The Optimal Substitute for the Aortic Valve?. NEJM 330: 59-60 [Full Text]