Pledget-Armed Sutures Affect the Haemodynamic Performance of Biologic Aortic Valve Substitutes: A Preliminary Experimental and Computational Study

...Recently, novel bioprostheses which include a stent-based anchoring system have been introduced to allow rapid implantation, therefore reducing the duration and invasiveness of the intervention. ...The results showed how the performance of cardiac valve substitutes is negatively affected by the presence of pledget-armed sutures... ...The measurements were collected during ten cardiac cycles and analysed in the VSI software pack- age (VSI, ViVitro, Victoria, BC, Canada). The leaflets kinematics were visualised using a high-speed camera. For ...