The use of high resolution phonocardiography in the assessment of artificial heart valves
Publisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
A non-invasive research tool to assess mechanical prosthetic heart valves using high resolution phonocardiography and signal processing was developed. The theory and motivation responsible for this system along with the actual hardware design and software coding will be presented. Studies employing this experimental system on patients with mechanical heart valves followed by the Sections of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Pediatric Cardiology at University Medical Center have revealed that the leaflets of normally functioning bileaflet mechanical heart valves do not close synchronously. The degree of asynchronous closure of the valve leaflets ranged from 3 msec to 4 msec to 5.5 msec. In addition, the data collected revealed that the closing sounds created by the prosthetic valves had significant frequencies above 10 kHz.Type
textThesis-Reproduction (electronic)