Mechanical heart valves provide their greatest benefit by replacing a fatigued natural valve with a prosthesis that was specifically engineered for the variety of patients who experience heart valve disease, thus relieving the patient of most associated conditions and improving their quality of life. However, throughout the last half century there have been many cases of structural failure and induced conditions such as thrombosis due to the materials used in these devices. Through the many case studies conducted, especially in the last two decades, many have been redesigned to decrease these long-term risks.
Among many other variants of the prosthetic heart valve, the bileaflet mechanical heart valve has been subject to scrutiny in the past due to its tendency to slow down flow rate in certain localised pockets, resulting in thrombus formation and damage to the blood cells themselves (Europe PubMed, 1996). Treatments for these effects such as anticoagulation medication was offered to patients with these prostheses (AHA, 1994), until companies such as Medtronic conducted studies on the effects of their own bileaflet valves in order to improve on the design. …show more content…
In their revised design (U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,658), these issues were resolved by coating the valve’s surfaces with pyrolytic carbon (a material that discourages the formation of thrombi). Major protrusions and depressions across the valve’s surfaces that had previously aided in stagnating blood flow have also been redesigned so that the leaves of the valve “wipe” themselves as they open and close, thus removing any blood clots (Alonso,
Among many other variants of the prosthetic heart valve, the bileaflet mechanical heart valve has been subject to scrutiny in the past due to its tendency to slow down flow rate in certain localised pockets, resulting in thrombus formation and damage to the blood cells themselves (Europe PubMed, 1996). Treatments for these effects such as anticoagulation medication was offered to patients with these prostheses (AHA, 1994), until companies such as Medtronic conducted studies on the effects of their own bileaflet valves in order to improve on the design. …show more content…
In their revised design (U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,658), these issues were resolved by coating the valve’s surfaces with pyrolytic carbon (a material that discourages the formation of thrombi). Major protrusions and depressions across the valve’s surfaces that had previously aided in stagnating blood flow have also been redesigned so that the leaves of the valve “wipe” themselves as they open and close, thus removing any blood clots (Alonso,