Valvular heart disease is a highly prevalent and increasingly clinically addressed problem worldwide, with evolving treatment guidelines supporting earlier intervention as well as valve repair over replacement when possible. Most valvular pathologies are rooted in biomechanical changes, such as the nuanced interplay between tissue degeneration, valve kinematics, and cardiac function. However, advances in repair techniques have progressed in the clinical arena primarily based upon anatomic and physiologic premises. Thus, by using biomechanical engineering tools to investigate valvular disease and analyze treatments, quantitative data can be harnessed to optimize surgical repair techniques and devices. An innovative left heart simulator was designed and produced to study the mechanics of mitral and aortic valve specimens throughout the cardiac cycle. This ex vivo analysis enables rapid and safe testing of surgical operations and offers new insight into the nuances of valvular disease and repair. This dissertation first details significant advancements to heart simulator technology: the development of low-profile chordal strain gauges, coupled image-guided robots to replicate papillary muscle motion, and two mitral annular dilation devices. Building on this heart simulator technology foundation, novel disease models were developed and analyzed: Barlow's mitral valve disease, aortic regurgitation from cusp prolapse, and bicuspid aortic valve disease. Finally, facilitated by the simulator and modeling advancements, I analyzed contemporary operative techniques and devices: valve-sparing root replacement, posterior ventricular anchoring neochordal repair, and transapical neochordal repair devices. A novel artificial papillary muscle device was also designed and tested to integrate with current minimally invasive mitral valve repair devices under trials. The research outlined herein has resulted in a significant clinical impact on aortic and mitral valve repair, and this work will continue to serve as a foundation for future investigations of clinical therapies for valve disease that can be rapidly translated to intraoperative patient care.

This book covers the latest research development in heart valve biomechanics and bioengineering, with an emphasis on novel experimentation, computational simulation, and applications in heart valve bioengineering. The most current research accomplishments are covered in detail, including novel concepts in valvular viscoelasticity, fibril/molecular mechanisms of tissue behavior, fibril kinematics-based constitutive models, mechano-interaction of valvular interstitial and endothelial cells, biomechanical behavior of acellular valves and tissue engineered valves, novel bioreactor designs, biomechanics of transcatheter valves, and 3D heart valve printing. This is an ideal book for biomedical engineers, biomechanics, surgeons, clinicians, business managers in the biomedical industry, graduate and undergraduate students studying biomedical engineering, and medical students.

This book provides a balanced presentation of the fundamental principles of cardiovascular biomechanics research, as well as its valuable clinical applications. Pursuing an integrated approach at the interface of the life sciences, physics and engineering, it also includes extensive images to explain the concepts discussed. With a focus on explaining the underlying principles, this book examines the physiology and mechanics of circulation, mechanobiology and the biomechanics of different components of the cardiovascular system, in-vivo techniques, in-vitro techniques, and the medical applications of this research. Written for undergraduate and postgraduate students and including sample problems at the end of each chapter, this interdisciplinary text provides an essential introduction to the topic. It is also an ideal reference text for researchers and clinical practitioners, and will benefit a wide range of students and researchers including engineers, physicists, biologists and clinicians who are interested in the area of cardiovascular biomechanics.

The notion of being able to engineer complete organs has inspired an entire generation of researchers. While recent years have brought significant progress in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, the immense challenges encountered when trying to engineer an entire organ have to be acknowledged. Despite a good understanding of cell phenotypes, cellular niches and cell-to-biomaterial interactions, the formation of tissues composed of multiple cells remains highly challenging. Only a step-by-step approach will allow the future production of a living tissue construct ready for implantation and to augment organ function. In this book, expert authors present the current state of this approach. It offers a concise overview and serves as a great starting point for anyone interested in the application of tissue engineering or regenerative medicine for organ engineering. Each chapter contains a short overview including physiological and pathological changes as well as the current clinical need. The potential cell sources and suitable biomaterials for each organ type are discussed and possibilities to produce organ-like structures are illustrated. The ultimate goal is for the generated small tissues to unfold their full potential in vivo and to serve as a native tissue equivalent. By integrating and evolving, these implants will form functional tissue in-vivo. This book discusses the desired outcome by focusing on well-defined functional readouts. Each chapter addresses the status of clinical translations and closes with the discussion of current bottlenecks and an outlook for the coming years. A successful regenerative medicine approach could solve organ shortage by providing biological substitutes for clinical use - clearly, this merits a collaborative effort.

Principles of Heart Valve Engineering is the first comprehensive resource for heart valve engineering that covers a wide range of topics, including biology, epidemiology, imaging and cardiovascular medicine. It focuses on valves, therapies, and how to develop safer and more durable artificial valves. The book is suitable for an interdisciplinary audience, with contributions from bioengineers and cardiologists that includes coverage of valvular and potential future developments. This book provides an opportunity for bioengineers to study all topics relating to heart valve engineering in a single book as written by subject matter experts. Covers the depth and breadth of this interdisciplinary area of research Encompasses a wide range of topics, from basic science, to the translational applications of heart valve engineering Contains contributions from leading experts in the field that are heavily illustrated

This proceedings volume highlights a selection of papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on High Performance Scientific Computing, which took place in Hanoi, Vietnam on March 16-20, 2015. The conference was jointly organized by the Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Studies (HITS), the Institute of Mathematics of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) at Heidelberg University, and the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, Ministry of Education The contributions cover a broad, interdisciplinary spectrum of scientific computing and showcase recent advances in theory, methods, and practical applications. Subjects covered numerical simulation, methods for optimization and control, parallel computing, and software development, as well as the applications of scientific computing in physics, mechanics, biomechanics and robotics, material science, hydrology, biotechnology, medicine, transport, scheduling, and industry.

Due to population aging, calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) has become the most common heart valve disease in Western countries. No therapies exist to slow this disease progression, and surgical valve replacement is the only effective treatment. Calcific Aortic Valve Disease covers the contemporary understanding of basic valve biology and the mechanisms of CAVD, provides novel insights into the genetics, proteomics, and metabolomics of CAVD, depicts new strategies in heart valve tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and explores current treatment approaches. As we are on the verge of understanding the mechanisms of CAVD, we hope that this book will enable readers to comprehend our current knowledge and focus on the possibility of preventing disease progression in the future.

With the advent of digital computers and rapidly developing computational techniques, computer simulations are widely used as predictive tools to supplement experimental techniques in engineering and technology. Computational biomechanics is a field where the movements of biological systems are assessed in the light of computer algorithms describing solid and fluid mechanical principles. This rapidly developing field must be constantly studied and updated as it continues to expand. Advances in Computational Approaches in Biomechanics examines the current trends and applications of intelligent computational techniques used to analyze a multitude of phenomena in the field of biomechanics and elaborates a series of sophisticated techniques used for computer simulation in solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, and fluid-solid interface. Covering a range of topics such as injury prevention, element analysis, and soft tissues, this publication is ideal for industry professionals, practitioners, researchers, academicians, instructors, and students.

This book provides information on the aortic valve. Written in a comprehensive style, it emphasizes the principles behind the development of artificial valves. It covers the principles of valve geometry, tissue structure and function relationships, valve dynamics, fluid dynamics, mechanical stresses, echocardiographic images, mechanisms of valve sounds, valvular pathology, and design and performance of bioprosthetic valves. It enhances our understanding of angiographic and echocardiographic images and calcific stenosis, and will be of value in the development of better prostheses. The Aortic Valve is the ideal text for biomedical engineers and a unique resource for teaching interdisciplinary approaches to medical and engineering students. This work is also an indispensible source for cardiac surgeons, pathologists, cardiologists, and manufacturers of prosthetic valves.