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Various prosthetic heart valves have been developed and used clinically, but they have problems, such as thrombogenecity, hemoltsis, high cost and low durability. New types of trileaflet polymer heart valves have been developed in order to use them as inlet and outlet valves in a ventricular assist device. The aim of this study is to determine the hydrodynamic effectiveness of the newly designed trileaflet polymer valves and their feasibility for temporary use in the blood pumps. Trileaflet polymer valves are made of polyurethane, because of its good blood compatibility, high tonsil strength and good resistance to fatigue. An in vitro experimental investigation was perf’’’’ormed in order to ev91ua1e hydrodynamic performance of the trileaflet polymer valves having different design and fabrication tech- niques. The St. Jude Medical valve (SJMV) and floating-type monoleaflet polymer valve (MLPV) were also tested The pressure drop across the valve, leakage volume, and the flow patterns mere investigated for valves. The result of comparative tests showed that the trileaflet polymer valves had a better hydrodynamic performance than the others. TPV which has two stable membrane shape showed the lowest back flow. The pressure hops of TPVs were lower than that of MLPV, but slightly higher than SJMV. The hydrodynamic performance of valves under the pulastile flow showed the similar results as steady flow. The velocity profiles and turbulent intensities were measured at the distal sites of valves using a hot-film anemometer. Central flow was maintained in trileaflet polymer valves, and the maximum turbulent intensities were lower in TPVs comparing to MLPV.
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