Valve morphology effect in aortic coarctation flow using realistic silicon models and magnetic resonance imaging

Aortic valve morphology and phenotype may alter the aortic wall structure and its normal flow hemodynamics. However, the relationship between altered flow patterns and progression of wall pathology is often not fully understood in patients with aortic coartation and needs larger experimental work. In this study, we introduced a compatible experimental setup with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a realistic aortic coarctation (AoCo) silicon model which can replicate physiological flow conditions (pressure, flow-wave, and systemic load). We evaluated the aortic valve hemodynamics of a normal tricuspid valve and a stenotic bicuspid valve using valve effective orifice area (EOA), peak and mean transvalvular pressure gradient (TPG). AoCo severity was assessed by the AoCo pressure gradient. For the tricuspid valve we obtained an EOA = 1.89 cm2, a peak TPG = 10 mmHg, and a mean TPG = 5 mmHg. For the bicuspid valve we obtained an EOA = 1.03 cm2, a peak TPG = 37 mmHg and a mean TPG = 13 mmHg. Furthermore, AoCo with tricuspid valve led to a peak AoCo pressure gradient (PG) = 11 mmHg and a mean PG = 5 mmHg. AoCo with bicuspid valve led to a peak PG = 6 mmHg and a mean PG = 3 mmHg. Aortic flow reattachment was more evident in presence of bicuspid valve and helical flow was present in all cases. This study showed that silicon prototyping in combination with MRI velocity measurements could successfully be used to assess hemodynamic effects of aortic valve morphology in aortic coarctation flow.