Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-20-2024

Abstract

Objective: Bioprosthetic valves using either porcine or bovine pericardium have been widely used for transcatheter heart valve replacements. However, producing bioprosthetic valves is not a sustainable solution. Acquiring animal tissue is often not readily available and costly and requires time-consuming modifications. Moreover, its primary tissue failure requires reoperation after roughly 15 years. The suggested replacement of porcine and bovine leaflets with biocompatible polymers appears to be an attractive alternative to bioprosthetic valves. In this study, engineered fiber-reinforced polymers were developed, which are less degenerative and offer greater hemocompatibility in relation to mechanical valves.
Methods: Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer reduces calcification significantly and has been long proven to be biocompatible. Although the naturally low tensile strength of PDMS is undesirable for prosthetic heart valves, the structural fiber mesh reinforcement overcomes these mechanical shortcomings, making PDMS leaflets viable for prosthetic heart valves. The fabrication process of the fiber reinforced PDMS leaflets was suggested, and short-term in vitro tests under cyclic flow generated by a pulse duplicator were conducted.
Results: The proposed tricuspids heart valve made of the fiber reinforced PDMS leaflets were successfully fabricated following the suggested process. The in vitro tests using a pulse duplicator show that the fiberreinforced tricuspid valve is open and close properly under the pressure of blood flow and has sufficient strength.
Conclusion: The proposed polymeric valve made of fiber reinforced PDMS leaflets and ABS stent is promising in the context of finding a biocompatible, durable, and cost-efficient alternative to the current clinically available valves.

Comments

Published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR)

DOI

http://doi.org/10.26717/BJSTR.2024.56.008885

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