Correlation of prosthetic heart valve dynamics with cavitation: In vitro and in vivo studies

A technique has been developed to correlate prosthetic heart valve closing dynamics with cavitation in vitro. The laser sweeping technique measured prosthetic heart valve closing dynamics over the last approximately five degrees before closure. A high-fidelity, piezoelectric pressure transducer was mounted proximal to the mitral valve and measured the high frequency pressure fluctuations caused by cavitation bubble formation and collapse after valve closure. The RMS (Root Mean Square) value of the mitral pressure signal after valve closure was used as a measure of cavitation intensity. Cavitation increased as the average closing velocity and deceleration increased for each valve examined in this study.;The effects of three different parameters on prosthetic heart valve dynamics and cavitation were examined: valve geometry (Medtronic-Hall;A method to determine the existence of prosthetic heart valve cavitation in vivo was also developed. Penn State Electrical Ventricular Assist Devices (EVADs) were implanted in four separate calves for this study with Bjork-Shiley Monostrut...