DESIGN OF A MOCK CIRCULATORY FLOW LOOP

  TO TEST TISSUE ENGINEERED HEART VALVE PROSTHESES

   BIOENGINEERING SENIOR DESIGN 2007

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                 Background

Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer worldwide:

Heart valve disease, a type of cardiovascular disease, was responsible for the deaths of 20,000 people in 2003, with an additional 22,500 cases where valve disease was listed as a contributing factor.

Two leading causes of heart valve disease:

Stenosis is the narrowing of the valve opening, which increases both the resistance to flow and the pressure differential across the valve.

Incompetence is the failure of a valve to close completely, leading to retrograde flow.

Surgical treatment for heart valve disease:

In patients with irreparable heart valve disease, valve replacement is the usual treatment. According to Yoganathan, et al., 250,000 people worldwide undergo heart valve replacement every year.

Two main categories of valve prostheses:

Bioprostheses are a tissue valve extracted from animal or human tissue

Mechanical Heart Valves (MHV) are constructed of man made materials

Bioprostheses  Mechanical Heart Valves 
-low risk of thromboembolism

-risk of immune system response

-structural dysfunction of the valve through tissue deterioration and, most notably, calcification

-reimplantation common

 -substantial risk of thromboemboli

-patients must undergo permanent anticoagulation management

-extremely durable and structurally sound for long term use

 

Need for design:

Clearly neither bioprostetic nor MHV's are the end all solution to the valve replacement need.  Due to the promise of tissue engineered valves, a modified bioprostheses, investigations are currently underway.  In vitro fluid mechanics testing is desired before human trials to make improvements to the designs.

Mock circulatory flow loops are the best method currently available for in vitro testing of heart valves.  Therefore, it is necessary to adapt the current mock flow loop designs to test not only mechanical heart valves but also bioprostetic and tissue engineered heart valves in the same loop.

 

 

*For a more formal presentation of this information complete with references please access this PDF document.

 

 

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Last updated: April 30, 2007