Medical Applications - Heart Valves

Medical Applications
Orthopaedic Implants	Bio Chips
Dental	Cosmetic / Dermatology
Bio MEMS	Pharmaceutical
Surgical needles	Heart Valves

Heart Valves

Overview
The human heart is an efficient muscular pump that has four chambers – two atria and two ventricles – each closed off by a one way valve. In the course of a day, the heart contracts and expands on average 100,000 times, pumping approximately 2,000 gallons of blood. By opening and closing in a synchronised manner, the four valves keep the blood flowing in a forward direction.

More than 250,000 bioprosthetic heart valves are being implanted annually. The ability to replace a diseased heart valve with a prosthetic one has dramatically reduced the mortality associated with heart-valve disorders. Unfortunately, this shining success story is only one side of the coin. The other is the complication associated with all contemporary heart valve prostheses. For example if the prosthetic valve is made of titanium and/or pyrolytic carbon, then they require lifelong anticoagulation. In spite of decades of experience anticoagulation is still a dangerous treatment. Suboptimal anticoagulation carries the threat of major clot formation, leading either to catastrophic immobilisation of the valve leaflets or to the downstream occlusion of a major blood vessel.

Quality control is critical in heart valve components as the consequences of failure are catastrophic. Material properties and geometrical shape are all important in the design and manufacture of heart valves. However surface characterisation of heart valves in both 2D and 3D is also critical as it has a large influence on fluid flow and anticoagulation properties of the valve. Our product offerings are detailed below, however for complete details please contact your local sales representative.

Talysurf CLI range
A range of 3D measurement systems offering both contact and non contact technology for form and surface finish.

Talysurf CCI range
A range of non contact interferometric systems which offer high precision 3D analysis of surface finish.

Form Talysurf Inductive range
A range of contact profiling systems which offer accurate surface finish on heart valves.

If you do not see medical solutions directly relevant to your specific requirements, please contact your local Taylor Hobson Sales Office.
We have a highly skilled team of Applications Engineers who can create custom systems for this and many other high precision industries.