High-speed particle image velocimetry to assess cardiac fluid dynamics in vitro: From performance to validation

Abnormality in cardiac fluid dynamics is highly correlated with several heart conditions. This is particularly true in valvular heart diseases and congenital heart defects where changes in flow-field accompany significant variations in chambers’ pressure gradients. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a convenient technique in assessing cardiac fluid dynamics in vitro. With PIV, it is possible to quantitatively differentiate between normal and abnormal intracardiac flow fields in transparent models of cardiac chambers. Understanding the flow-field inside the heart chambers is challenging due to the fast pace of the flow, three dimensionality of the events, and complex deformability of the heart chambers that highly depends on compliance. Defining standard test-phantoms for particular performance studies ensure accuracy of the tests and reproducibility of the data for implantable devices, regardless of who performs the tests. In this work, we have described several different measures for assessment of cardiac fluid dynamics of heart valves using our novel experimental system that is particularly designed and developed for in vitro investigation of intracardiac flow.