Development of 3D Printed Mitral Valve Constructs for Transcatheter Device Modeling of Tissue and Device Deformation

• Published in: Annals of biomedical engineering Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 426 - 439
• Main Authors: Vukicevic, Marija, Mehta, Shail Maharshi, Grande-Allen, K. Jane, Little, Stephen H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.04.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Annuli; Approximation; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Classical Mechanics; Deformation; Heart valves; Mechanical properties; Medical equipment; Mitral valve; Modelling; Original; Original Article; Patients; Repair; Strain; Tensile tests; Three dimensional printing; Valve leaflets; Transcatheter device modeling; Mitral valve; 3D print materials; Mechanical testing; 3D printing
• ISSN: 0090-6964; 1573-9686
• DOI: 10.1007/s10439-022-02927-y

Transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) therapies offer a minimally invasive alternative to surgical mitral valve (MV) repair for patients with prohibitive surgical risks. Pre-procedural planning and associated medical device modeling is primarily performed in silico, which does not account for the physical interactions between the implanted TMVR device and surrounding tissue and may result in poor outcomes. We developed 3D printed tissue mimics for modeling TMVR therapies. Structural properties of the mitral annuli, leaflets, and chordae were replicated from multi-material blends. Uniaxial tensile testing was performed on the resulting composites and their mechanical properties were compared to those of their target native components. Mimics of the MV annulus printed in homogeneous strips approximated the tangent moduli of the native mitral annulus at 2% and 6% strain. Mimics of the valve leaflets printed in layers of different stiffnesses approximated the force–strain and stress–strain behavior of native MV leaflets. Finally, mimics of the chordae printed as reinforced cylinders approximated the force–strain and stress–strain behavior of native chordae. We demonstrated that multi-material 3D printing is a viable approach to the development of tissue phantoms, and that printed patient-specific geometries can approximate the local deformation force which may act upon devices used for TMVR therapies.