AUTHOR=Noterdaeme Timothée , Gesenhues Jonas , Vogt Felix , Massberg Steffen , Marx Nikolaus TITLE=Proof of Concept: Measuring Aortic Annulus Resistance by Means of Pressure-Volume Curves During Balloon Inflation to Guide Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2021.665029 DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2021.665029 ISSN=2297-055X ABSTRACT=

This study assessed the basic working principle to measure aortic annulus resistance during balloon inflation for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), by acquisition of pressure-volume curve for a guided semi-automatic implantation. A modular bench-system was used which allows the incremental inflation of valvuloplasty balloons by means of a stepper-motor driven linear axis with simultaneous recording of the pressure changes inside the system. Different porcine aortic xenografts were assessed by use of a non-compliant valvuloplasty balloon. In a second step transcatheter aortic stents were implanted inside target sized xenografts. The recorded pressure volume-curves showed that the system can accurately differentiate between different xenografts and assess the quality of the tissue rendering real-time analysis of pressure-volume curves during balloon-inflation possible, which has the potential to optimize the implantation procedure by direct adaptation to the patient specific anatomy and characteristics. Further investigations and development are warranted.