Abstract
We aimed to develop a calcified aortic valve model for the evaluation of paravalvular leak of a transcatheter aortic valve. We fabricated a calcified aortic valve model using silicone based on a CT image of the pre-operation of the patient who received treatment with a transcatheter aortic valve. In addition, we fabricated a thoracic aorta model and an abdominal aorta model because these three dimensional morphology would affect the insertion procedure of the transcatheter valve. These models were installed into a chamber, and the other space of the models were filled with a glycerol solution with the refractive index and viscosity of 1.410±0.002 and 5.96 mPa・s respectively, in order to adjust the expansion rate of the valve annulus and to measure the expansion range by a lazer system in pulsatile flow and pressure environments. Using the test system, the maximum and minimum cross-sectional area of the valve annulus in systole and diastole in the pulsatile flow circuit could be adjusted to these in the referenced patients' data. The pulsatile flow system with patient specific aortic valve, thoracic aorta and abdominal aorta model would be useful to quantify the paravalvular leak performance of the transcatheter aortic valve.
