Engineers find thinner tissues in replacement heart valves create problematic flutter

[Paleowoman]

An engineer friend sent me this link from MedicalXpress: Engineers find thinner tissues in replacement heart valves create problematic flutter

It’s actually referring to transcatheter replacement valves which have thin valve leaflets to enable them to be threaded via an artery to position in the heart, but I found the article is interesting even for usual tissue valve replacements as it explains some of the possible reasons for deterioration of replacement tissue heart valves - though I believe tissue valves have similar thickness leaflets to native valves - but I wonder if even they “flutter’ a bit to a degree ?

 

[nobog]

100% fake news. I can tell you with 100% certainty that a computer model and the "real world" do not cross - at least as far as leaflet flutter is concerned.

 

[Paleowoman]

100% fake news.

It’s reported on in Medical X press and in the article in the link I posted it says:

The engineers' findings are reported in a paper just published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The engineers' comparison of the performance of thinner valve tissues was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

 

[nobog]

I get it, doesn't mean that just because it has a big name attached to it makes it true. Heart valve leaflet motion is tricky business and I can tell you what the computer model says and what happens in-vivo or in-vitro may be completely different.

 

[vitdoc]

Nobog what is your technical background? You seem well informed on technical issues. I am a physician (Retinal Surgeon) and mini cardiologist since I had my first surgery 43 years ago with an aortic valve replacement and subsequently two other surgeries. Replace valve and repair Aortic Aneurysm. So I somewhat keep up with this topic.

 

[nobog]

vitdoc - lets for now, just say I am "in the business". As I am still working I can only say so much. After I retire ("soon") I will be at liberty to discuss these things a bit more freely (although I am still bound my employment agreement).

 

[pekster11]

nobog...is to be one of my go to ppl for info, now i know he has insider knowledge

 

[tom in MO]

To me it's not really new that something thinner flaps more in turbulence than something thicker. You can see that w/o a computer model by watching different flags on flag poles. However, in the absence of turbulence, the different flags behave the same. Models do not equal reality because they are not real.

If you parse out a few things there are some inconsistencies: We have an eyewitness look, from a physically impossible point of view, thanks to computational models of the fluid-structure interactions of blood and heart valves. By definition it is not an "eyewitness look" since it is a "computational model."

The conclusion statement "this study demonstrates the potentially serious impact of introducing thinner, more flexible tissues into the cardiac system. " Key word is "potentially". That means its a model with no foundation in reality. It may indicate a future real world experiment that should be done.