Mike Lee’s paper with Robert Hunt and others, Bioprosthetic aortic valve diameter and thickness are directly related to leaflet fluttering: Results from a combined experimental and computational modeling study, has been accepted to appear in JTCVS Open, the open-access mirror of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. This study demonstrates that bioprosthetic heart valves with smaller diameters and/or thicker leaflets generate higher fluttering frequencies in experimental and computational pulse duplicators. Because fluttering can impair the durability of flexible structures, extensions of this work may ultimately lead to new device design targets or selection guidelines to improve the durability of valve replacement.
Congratulations, Mike!