Native Bovine and Porcine Pericardia Respond to Load With Additive Recruitment of Collagen Fibers.

Bovine and porcine pericardia are currently used for manufacturing prosthetic heart valves: their design has become an increasingly important area of investigation in parallel with progressively expanding indications for the transcutaneous approach to heart valves replacement. Before being cut and shaped, pericardial tissues are expected to be properly characterized. Actually, the mechanical assessment of these biomaterials lacks standardized protocols.

Mechanical testing of pericardium for manufacturing prosthetic heart valves.

Mammalian pericardia are currently used for the production of percutaneous prosthetic heart valves. The characteristics of biological tissues largely influence the durability of prosthetic devices used in the percutaneous approach and in traditional surgery, too. This paper reviews methodologies employed to assess and compare mechanical properties of pericardial patches from different mammalian species in order to identify the biomaterials adequate for manufacturing prosthetic heart valves.