PLASTIC TRICUSPID HEART VALVES,
Abstract
Research was conducted to fabricate and evaluate valves for a proposed fluid-amplifier heart pump to be used for an extracorporeal support function during surgical operations. A tricuspid valve, modeled after the valve of the human heart, was selected for fabrication. An all-plastic tricuspid valve was fabricated in quantity by methods that gave reproducible leaflet dimensions and reproducible housing dimensions. Based on tests of 11 samples of the final valves, with an average observed life of at least 1100 hr, the true reliability to survive 11 hr of operation or to survive 50 hr of operation was at least 99 or at least 96 percent, respectively, under the conditions of test. The ultimate objective is that the reliability of heart valves, even of those intended for a few hours of operation, should more closely approach 100 percent. The chances of attaining such reliability are better for a ball valve than for a plastic tricuspid valve. Hence, work on plastic tricuspid valves was discontinued. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 02, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0622696
Entities
People
- Roy F. High
Organizations
- Harry Diamond Laboratories