Commissural repositioning in bicuspid aortic valve repair: an in vitro acute model to explore and explain different results.

Objectives: Commissural orientation <160° is a recognized risk factor for bicuspid aortic valve repair failure. Based on this observation, repairing this subtype of aortic valve by reorienting the 2 commissures at 180° has recently been proposed.

Methods: Nine porcine hearts with aortic annulus diameters of 25 mm were selected.

Ex Vivo Model of Functional Mitral Regurgitation Using Deer Hearts.

Transcatheter therapies are emerging for functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) treatment, however there is lack of pathological models for their preclinical assessment. We investigated the applicability of deer hearts for this purpose.8 whole deer hearts were housed in a pulsatile flow bench.

Preoperative Computed Tomography Scan Analysis of Interleaflets Triangles to Guide Aortic Root Repair Procedures.

Background: Stabilization of the ventriculo-aortic junction (VAJ) is gaining increasing interest in the context of aortic valve repair, since its dilation is a well-recognized risk factor for long-term repair failure. Interleaflets triangles are key elements of the VAJ, but cannot be completely visualized using echocardiography. A three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of electrocardiogram-triggered computed tomography (CT) scan images allows an analysis of the real dimensions and anatomic characteristics of the subcommissural triangles.