HEMODYNAMICS OF THE “MEDENG-ST” FULL-FLOW HEART VALVE

Background. About half of heart valve prosthetics are mechanical prostheses. Mechanical prostheses of heart valves have several advantages over biological ones. Nevertheless, there are also the negative consequences of their implantation include blood hemolysis and platelet activation. The purpose of the work was to create adequate computer models of hemodynamics of the “MedEng-ST” full-flow heart valve, allowing estimating the number of destroyed red blood cells, activated platelets and the tendency of the course to develop cavitation in it Materials and methods. The process of blood flow through the “MedEng-ST” full-flow heart valve, installed in the aortic position, during systole was considered. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow were determined by computational fluid dynamics methods using the ANSYS/CFX program. Original models were used to determine the number of destroyed erythrocytes and activated platelets. Results. A numerical model has been developed and the hemodynamics of the “MedEng-ST” full-flow heart valve has been simulated, because of which the relative content of destroyed red blood cells and the tendency of the flow to develop cavitation in it are estimated. Conclusions. It was found that during systole, relatively high concentrations of destroyed red blood cells are present in local areas of the calculated area; their values do not exceed 0.01 %. The average over the area of the output section values of the relative number of destroyed red blood cells do not exceed 3·10–6 %. The propensity of the flow to develop cavitation in it has not been identified.