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REVIEW article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Heart Valve Disease
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1458809

Rethinking Mechanical Heart Valves in the Aortic Position: New Paradigms in Design and Testing

Provisionally accepted
Sreyashi Chakraborty Sreyashi Chakraborty 1,2Mindy Simon Mindy Simon 2Alessandro Bellofiore Alessandro Bellofiore 2*
  • 1 San José State University Research Foundation, Moffett Field, United States
  • 2 San Jose State University, San Jose, California, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    , particularly for younger patients and patients from low-and middle-income countries and underserved communities. Despite their exceptional durability, MHV recipients are at increased risk of thromboembolic complications. As such, the development of the next generation of MHVs must prioritize improved thromboresistance and aim for independence from anticoagulant therapy. However, innovation in MHV design faces several challenges: strict performance and biocompatibility requirements, limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying MHV thrombosis, and a lack of effective testing methodologies to assess how design variations impact both hemodynamic performance and thrombogenicity of MHVs. This paper reviews the emerging paradigms in MHV design, materials and surface modifications that may inspire the development of a new generation of MHVs for aortic valve replacement. We also discuss challenges and opportunities in developing experimental and numerical approaches to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of MHV flow features and the mechanisms of flow-induced blood clotting.

    Keywords: Mechanical heart valves, Thrombogenicity, shear stress, Hemodynamics, review

    Received: 03 Jul 2024; Accepted: 31 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chakraborty, Simon and Bellofiore. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alessandro Bellofiore, San Jose State University, San Jose, 95192, California, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.