Engineering a New Polymeric Heart Valve Using 3D Printing-TRISKELION.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Research
• Materials Science

Background:

• Developing prosthetic heart valves that combine biological hemodynamic properties with mechanical valve longevity remains a challenge.
• Anatomically inspired artificial polymeric heart valves offer potential solutions.
• 3D printing facilitates rapid prototyping and testing of new heart valve designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test the TRISKELION, a novel 3D-printed silicone prosthetic heart valve prototype.
• To evaluate the hemodynamic performance of the TRISKELION against standard biological and mechanical valves.
• To leverage 3D printing for rapid iteration and understanding of artificial heart valve biophysical properties.

Main Methods:

• Designed and 3D printed silicone prototypes (TRISKELION) using specific Shore hardness silicones.
• Tested prototypes using a hemodynamic pulse duplicator simulating aortic valve function at 70 bpm.
• Utilized high-speed videography for visualization and compared performance metrics to commercial biological and mechanical valves.

Main Results:

• The TRISKELION prototype demonstrated a regurgitation fraction of 22.26% ± 4.34%.
• Mean systolic pressure gradient for TRISKELION was 9.93 ± 3.22 mmHg.
• Cardiac output for TRISKELION was 3.80 ± 0.21 L/min, lower than benchmarks.

Conclusions:

• The TRISKELION concept, featuring a central structure, shows promise for addressing heart valve longevity.
• 3D printing enables rapid, effective development and analysis of artificial heart valve prototypes.
• Further development using biocompatible polymers and advanced designs could lead to improved prosthetic heart valves.