Innovative IntraValvular Impedance Sensing Applied to Biological Heart Valve Prostheses: Design and In Vitro Evaluation

Figures

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  Figure 1. The principle of measurement of IntraValvular Impedance (IVI) for a healthy valve (left) and for a valve with thrombus formation (right): current pulses (I) are injected between each electrode pair to generate local electric field interference with leaflet movement, and potential difference (∆V) is recorded.

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  Figure 2. Geometric dimensions of the three electrodes embedded in the Prototype 1.

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  Figure 3. Prototype 1: positioning of “mini-platelet” electrodes A (red), B (green) and C (yellow). Local electric field lines (I) and the corresponding potential difference measurement (ΔV) are represented for each pair of electrodes.

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  Figure 4. Geometric dimensions of the three electrodes embedded in the Prototype 2.

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  Figure 5. Prototype 2: positioning of “bar” electrodes A (red), B (green) and C (yellow). Local electric field lines (I) and the corresponding potential difference measurement (ΔV) are represented for each pair of electrodes.

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  Figure 6. Geometric dimensions of the three electrodes embedded in the Prototype 3.

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  Figure 7. Prototype 3: positioning of “arch” electrodes A (red), B (green) and C (yellow). Local electric field lines (I) and the corresponding potential difference measurement (ΔV) are represented for each pair of electrodes.

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  Figure 8. Schematic representation of the circulatory mock-loop platform for in vitro testing.

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  Figure 9. Graphic User Interface (GUI) implemented in MatLab AppDesigner.

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  Figure 10. IVI measurements recorded for the three pairs of electrodes of Prototype 1 under normal leaflet dynamics: AB (left), BC (center) and CA (right).

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  Figure 11. IVI measurements recorded for the three pairs of electrodes of Prototype 2 under normal leaflet dynamics: AB (left), BC (center) and CA (right).

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  Figure 12. IVI measurements recorded for the three pairs of electrodes of Prototype 3 under normal leaflet dynamics: AB (left), BC (center) and CA (right).