Force Profiles of Single Ventricle Atrioventricular Leaflets in Response to Annular Dilation and Leaflet Tethering

We sought to understand how leaflet forces change in response to annular dilation and leaflet tethering (LT) in single ventricle physiology. Explanted fetal bovine tricuspid valves were sutured onto image-derived annuli and ventricular mounts. Control valves (CON) were secured to a size-matched hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)-type annulus and compared to: (1) normal tricuspid valves secured to a size-matched saddle-shaped annulus, (2) HLHS-type annulus with LT, (3) HLHS-type annulus with annular dilation (dilation valves), or (4) a combined disease model with both dilation and tethering (disease valves). The specimens were tested in a systemic heart simulator at various single ventricle physiologies. Leaflet forces were measured using optical strain sensors sutured to each leaflet edge. Average force in the anterior leaflet was 43.2% lower in CON compared to normal tricuspid valves (P < 0.001). LT resulted in a 6.6% increase in average forces on the anterior leaflet (P = 0.04), 10.7% increase on the posterior leaflet (P = 0.03), and 14.1% increase on the septal leaflet (P < 0.001). In dilation valves, average septal leaflet forces increased relative to the CON by 42.2% (P = 0.01). In disease valves, average leaflet forces increased by 54.8% in the anterior leaflet (P < 0.001), 37.6% in the posterior leaflet (P = 0.03), and 79.9% in the septal leaflet (P < 0.001). The anterior leaflet experiences the highest forces in the normal tricuspid annulus under single ventricle physiology conditions. Annular dilation resulted in an increase in forces on the septal leaflet and LT resulted in an increase in forces across all 3 leaflets. Annular dilation and LT combined resulted in the largest increase in leaflet forces across all 3 leaflets.