Effects of a newly designed paediatric pulmonary heart valve on hemodynamic function

Congenital heart disease is one of the most common types of birth defect. If there is an obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract, it is often necessary to provide a reconstruction of this outflow tract which is normally performed in the neonatal period. However, in Japan there is no commercially-available prosthetic valve of the appropriate size. Senior Assistant Professor Kenji Suzuki is a paediatric cardiac surgeon based within the Nippon Medical School Musashikosugi Hospital, Japan, who is working to develop a pulmonary valve prosthesis in the paediatric field. He and his team are working to develop a new design of pulmonary valve prosthesis that avoids dysfunction such as thrombus formation and reduced mobility of valve leaflets and the researchers are investigating the effects of a newly designed paediatric pulmonary heart valve on hemodynamic function. To do this, the team will construct a circulatory simulator that mimics the right heart system and measure the right ventricular pressure and pulmonary artery pressure waveform, which will enable them to calculate the regurgitation rate. The researchers will observe valve leaflet motion by video recording. In preliminary experiments, Suzuki and the team have already shown that the regurgitation rate and pressure gradient are lower than those of the prosthetic valve they previously developed and, looking ahead, the researchers plan to gather more data and fine-tune the structure.