[Experimental study on the hydrodynamic performance of "valved pericardial roll"]

Optimal configuration and hydrodynamic performance of "Valved Pericardial Roll (VPR)" as an external conduit was studied using a mock circulatory system which was able to simulate a right cardiac function of infants. Results were as follows: 1) Cardiac output produced by VPR was consistently higher than that by non valved pericardial roll. This result showed the hemodynamic effectiveness of VPR at early stage of operation. 2) Cardiac output by VPR tended to decreased as an elevation of afterload and/or an increment of pulse rate. This result exhibited that VPR had a comparable performance to the Ionescu-Sihley pericardial valve, a satisfactory performance of which was recognized clinically. 3) The optimal configuration related to the length of valve leaflet (LVL) were obtained from the simulation data. VPR with two leaflets produced the best performance when each LVL was design to be 95% of the roll diameter. Among the VPR with three leaflets, the best LVL was 85%. Thus far, VPR which was developed based on the above fundamental studies, indicated satisfactory performance as compared to the conventional surgical treatment.