Investigating the Shortcomings of the Flow Convergence Method for Quantification of Mitral Regurgitation in a Pulsatile In-Vitro Environment and with Computational Fluid Dynamics

In this study the accuracy of the flow convergence method was assessed in a hemodynamic reproducible in-vitro environment. The frequency of the pump (ViVitro SuperPump, ViVitro Labs, Inc., Victoria, Canada) is adjusted to 80 bpm and the stroke volume of the pump is set to reach a left ventricular pressure of approximately 120 mmHg. The most obvious finding is that the RVol determined by physicians with the flow convergence methods underestimates the RVol for eight out of nine MROPs.