Numerical analysis for the structural strength comparison of St. Jude Medical and Edwards MIRA bileaflet mechanical heart valve prostheses

This paper presents a numerical analysis for the structural strength comparison of the St. Jude Medical bileaflet mechanical heart valve prosthesis with flat leaflet and the Edwards MIRA bileaflet mechanical heart valve prosthesis with curved leaflet. Computer aided engineering systems are used in the analysis. The blood fluid pressure is applied to both flat and curved leaflets of the bileaflet mechanical heart valve prostheses for the rigid body dynamic analysis to confirm the almost same dynamic characteristics of both flat and curved leaflet motions. Thereafter, using the same blood fluid pressure and dynamic characteristics of leaflet motions, structural mechanic analyses for both flat and curved leaflets of the mechanical heart valve prostheses are carried out to show quite different stress and deformation results, respectively. Conclusively, from the viewpoint of stress, it is revealed that the St. Jude Medical bileaflet mechanical heart valve prosthesis is structurally stronger and better than the Edwards MIRA bileaflet mechanical heart valve prosthesis. Computer aided engineering systems used in this comparative structural analysis are ADAMS for the rigid body dynamic analysis, and NISA for the structural mechanic analysis.