In this study, we describe the design, fabrication and computational testing of a new prosthetic device for aortic valve replacement. The device is an active stent composed of a silicone rubber during initial prototyping, with adaptation towards a hydrogel, poly-vinyl alcohol reinforced with bacterial cellulose nanofibres underway. The nature of the stent is soft robotic (SR), where an increase in internal pressure of the pneumatic network causes an increase in the internal diameter of the device. When working in tandem with the SR heart valve, described briefly, pulsations of the blood and the energy gained from ventricular pressure actuates the valve-and-stent combination. This increases the effective orifice area of the entire device and addresses an issue with small sized heart valves facing prosthesis-patient mismatch.
Keywords: RBC lysis; Soft robotic; aortic valve prostheses; polymer valve; thrombogenicity.