Figure 1:

Study design and methods. (A) Flow chart of the investigated experimental groups. A fresh native porcine aortic root was dissected and connected to a Dacron prosthesis at the left ventricular outflow tract and the coronary arteries were ligated. Surgical aortic valve replacement was performed using 4 substitutes: the Ozaki valve, Perimount Magna Ease (PME) 21 mm, Trifecta (TRI) 21 mm and Masters mechanical heart valve (SJM) 21 mm. (B) Schematic depiction (left) and photographs (right) of the custom built mock circulation loop including the pulse duplicator (modified with permission from Scharfschwerdt et al. [10]). (1) Atrial reservoir, (2) disc valve, (3) cam plate, (4) piston pump, (5) adjustable input compliance, (6) fluid reservoir with an interchangeable aortic valve compartment, (7) visualization chamber, (8) adjustable aortic compliance, (9) non-linear resistance element, (10) height variable fluid column, (11) pressure sensor, (12) ultrasonic flow probe and (13) high-speed camera. (C) Exemplary illustration of GOA tracing.