Design Optimization of a Mechanical Heart Valve for Reducing Valve Thrombogenicity: A Case Study With ATS Valve

Flow past mechanical heart valves (MHV) in mechanical circulatory support devices including total artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices, is primarily implicated in thromboembolism due to non-physiological flow conditions where the elevated stresses and exposure times are sufficiently high to cause platelet activation and thrombus formation. Mitigation of this risk requires lifelong anticoagulation therapy and less thrombogenic MHV designs should therefore be developed by device manufacturers [1].