Role of Computational Simulations in Heart Valve Dynamics and Design of Valvular Prostheses

Computational simulations are playing an increasingly important role in enhancing our understanding of the normal human physiological function, etiology of diseased states, surgical and interventional planning, and in the design and evaluation of artificial implants. Researchers are taking advantage of computational simulations to speed up the initial design of implantable devices before a prototype is developed and hence able to reduce animal experimentation for the functional evaluation of the devices under development. A review of the reported studies to date relevant to the simulation of the native and prosthetic heart valve dynamics is the subject of the present paper. Potential future directions toward multi-scale simulation studies for our further understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology of heart valve dynamics and valvular implants are also discussed.