Surface Strains of Porcine Tricuspid Valve Septal Leaflets Measured in Ex-vivo Beating Hearts

...For the first time, the porcine valve leaflets deformation was measured in a passive ex-vivo beating heart without isolating and remounting the valve annuli. In particular, the right ventricular apexes of porcine hearts (n = 8) were connected to a pulse-duplicator pump that maintained a pulsatile flow from and to a reservoir connected to the right atrium and the pulmonary arteries... A positive displacement pump 116 (SuperPump AR Series, Vivitro Labs Inc., BC, Canada) was connected to the apex of the right 117 ventricle after an incision was carefully made at this location (as described in more detail below)...