An in silico evaluation of cardiovascular devices by fluid-structure interaction simulations

Computational analysis has become one of the most widely used tool to investigate the behavior of cardiovascular devices and to understand their interaction with the anatomical domain. In particular, heart valves modeling involves structural and fluid dynamic aspects, which need to be both considered and coupled. For this reason, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) numerical analysis is required. The aim of this thesis is to verify and validate the application of the FSI methodology to the modelling of heart valves and to apply the analysis on two different cardiovascular devices, namely percutaneous aortic valves and ventricles of a total artificial heart. Different FSI algorithms have been considered and validation studies with a coupled in vitro /in silico approach were carried out. The deep knowledge of these methods has allowed a thorough investigation of a total artificial heart and of a transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedure. The main hypothesis is to prove the necessity to implement an FSI methodology to model cardiovascular devices and its impact on clinical decisions and interventional planning.