Blood flow through a defective bileaflet mechanical
heart valve was modeled using steady and pulsatile
blood flow conditions under several flow and
malfunction severity conditions. The calculations
used Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes equations with
Newtonian blood properties. The results showed that
the flow upstream and downstream of the defective
valve is highly influenced by malfunction severity
and this resulted in a misleading improvement in the
correlation between simulated Doppler
echocardiographic and catheter transvalvular pressure
gradients. In this study, two potential non-invasive
parameters were proposed using Doppler
echocardiography and phase contrast magnetic
resonance imaging, for an early detection of
mechanical heart valve malfunction. Finally, the
relation between the coherent structures downstream
of the valve and the valve malfunction was shown and
the significant impact of valve malfunction on
platelet activation and as a consequence, on thrombus
formation was also shown.
heart valve was modeled using steady and pulsatile
blood flow conditions under several flow and
malfunction severity conditions. The calculations
used Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes equations with
Newtonian blood properties. The results showed that
the flow upstream and downstream of the defective
valve is highly influenced by malfunction severity
and this resulted in a misleading improvement in the
correlation between simulated Doppler
echocardiographic and catheter transvalvular pressure
gradients. In this study, two potential non-invasive
parameters were proposed using Doppler
echocardiography and phase contrast magnetic
resonance imaging, for an early detection of
mechanical heart valve malfunction. Finally, the
relation between the coherent structures downstream
of the valve and the valve malfunction was shown and
the significant impact of valve malfunction on
platelet activation and as a consequence, on thrombus
formation was also shown.