A proposal for a theory and detection method of cavitation potential of mitral bileaflet heart valve

We believe that cavitation damage to mitral bileaflet heart valve (MBHV) is caused by microcracks of hydrophobic pyrolite carbon. Our proposal is to detect cavitation potential of MBHV with an acoustic technique under various conditions of transvalvular pressures, ventricular dp/dt, leakage flow, and gas concentration in fluid, This modality, different from recent research in theory and technique, will lead to a standardized noninvasive and sufficiently sensitive technique for the detection of MBHV, to reject those valves believed to cause cavitation damage, and to develop cavitation-resistant MBHV.