Title: Numerical simulation and structure verification of Jellyfish heart valve

Authors: Qiong Lin, Y.S. Morsi, Benjamin Smith, William Yang

Addresses: IRIS, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. ' IRIS, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. ' IRIS, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. ' IRIS, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia

Abstract: Recent studies suggest that calcification of tissue heart valves is associated with leaflet flexural stresses. Stress distribution maps obtained from numerical analysis studies of leaflet motion can be used to optimise valve design by reducing concentrated stresses and thus attenuate calcification. To date, little structural analysis has been carried out on the leaflet closure phase and none for the opening phase. In this paper, two 3D models were built for separately simulating the closure and opening movements of the leaflet under intra-aortic pressure. Results provide comprehensive information on the leaflet deformation and stress-strain distribution derived using a total Lagrangian formulation approach. The findings indicate that higher stresses occur during the opening phase compared to the closure phase. Agreement between the calculated concentrated stress patches and calcification patches from in vivo trial is observed. Longevity of Jellyfish heart valves may therefore be improved by design changes that will reduce stresses in the highly concentrated regions. The use of this type of analysis can assist considerably in the optimisation and assessment of design changes particularly in the early stages of valve development.

Keywords: tissue valves; Jellyfish heart valves; calcification; finite element analysis; FEA; heart valve design; stress distribution; simulation; leaflet flexural stresses; leaflet deformation; calcification; prosthetic valves; prostheses.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2004.005332

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2004 Vol.21 No.1/2, pp.2 - 7

Published online: 25 Sep 2004 *

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