Dynamic model of a heart valve bioprothesis through the finite element method

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death, accounting for more than 17.6 million cases worldwide. Among the main diseases, it can be highlighted the problems related to malfunctioning of heart valves such as stenosis, where there is a reduction of the opening area of the valve due to the stiffening of the tissue. An effective solution to this disease is the replacement of defective valves for heart valve prostheses. The two most used types of prostheses are mechanical and biological. Mechanical valves provide good durability, between 20-30 years, but are thrombus-forming which makes the patient to take anti coagulants throughout their life. Biological valves have excellent body acceptance. However, their durability is reduced by negative effects such as tissue calcification and fatigue which cause them to operate between 10-15 years. Since it is very important to improve the designs of these devices made of biological tissue, the present work aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the finite element method in modeling the dynamic behavior of heart valves. A transient analysis was performed with physiological boundary conditions and the results were compared with experiments available in the literature for a qualitative verification of the analysis. The results showed that the finite element method satisfactorily modeled the valve behavior and that this tool can be used in the analysis of these devices making the process more agile.