Real time deformation of the bioprosthetic heart valve

We have previously examined the effects of fatigue on bioprosthetic heart valve (BHV) cusp 3D geometry and structure. It was found that the regions of the cusp with highest curvature correlated to the regions that experienced the highest damage. However, while of high spatial resolution, the data obtained in that study was done under static, zero load conditions. To date, there are no dynamic data on how the aortic valve deforms and how this changes with chemical fixation and fatigue. In the study, we utilize dynamic imaging data from both the natural and pericardial BHV to begin to study the shape and deformation in real time of natural and BHV deformations during the cardiac cycle.