Design of Biomorphic Polymeric Heart Valve Prosthes by Means of FEM Modeling

Severe stenotic or insufficient native heart valves (nHV) must be substituted with artificial heart valve prostheses (aHV) to prevent heart failure. Nowadays, surgeons can implant two types of aHVs: mechanical aHV or bioprosthetic aHV. Mechanical aHVs, which are built up from synthetic hard materials, assure good reliability but require daily anticoagulant treatment to avoid blood cells damage. On the contrary, bioprosthetic aHVs, which are made from animal or human tissues, display better hemocompatibility but significant risk of failure due to tissue degradation. Despite current development in manufacturing of valve prostheses, long-term clinical applications claim for new generation of aHVs able to meet reliability and effectiveness requirements [2].