Force Validated Heart Valve Surgical Planning Tool

While advances in cardiac surgery have revolutionized the treatment of heart valve disease, problems associated with the long-term performance of replacement valves and surgical repair techniques are still prevalent. The goal of this work is to create a new, force-validated model of the mitral valve for intelligent surgery planning and device development, using nature’s own stress-minimization concepts for maximum longevity of mitral valve interventions. Mitral valves will be imaged in vivo in a porcine model, subsequently explanted for testing in a 3D-printed patient-specific anatomically and physiologically accurate chamber; and the data will be used in a computational soft tissue model for optimal relevancy of stress conditions in the left heart.