Early results of a new mechanical tri-leaflet heart valve prosthesis--"Tricusp": an animal study.

Objective: A new tri-leaflet mechanical heart valve made of titanium was inserted in the mitral position to evaluate early results.

Methods And Results: Five sheep were followed between 3 and 6 months (mean 4.7 months) and performed very well clinically during the follow-up period.

In vitro flow dynamics of a new mechanical cardiac valve prosthesis--"tricusp".

The hydrodynamic performance of a newly developed JCL-trileaflet mechanical heart valve prostheses (Tricusp) was measured and compared with some of the currently most used heart valve prostheses types. All experiments were performed in an electrohydraulic, computer-controlled pulse duplicator simulating the left side of the human circulatory system. Testing conditions were set according to a Food and Drugs Administration interlaboratory comparison protocol, with cardiac outputs 3.

A new concept for atrial triggered pulse generators.

In order to avoid the potential risk of a short refractory period and the inconvenience of the electronic blocking mechanism at the highest synchronous rate with the conventional atrial triggered pulse generator, two more functions have been added to the normal atrial triggered (VAT) pulse generator. First, it has been designed to be ventricular inhibited; second, a highest synchronous rate detector has been added. When the highest synchronous rate of about 140 is exceeded, the atrial signals are blocked and the frequency of the basic rate generator is increased to about 130.