The model is open for the public to view as part of the Heart exhibition in RCSI’s Humanarium.
Researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences hope to better understand diseases in the heart valve with an artificial model that mimics the valve’s complex mechanisms.
The heart’s mitral valve opens and closes around 100,000 times each day, making its mechanical properties key to healthy heart function.
When the valve does not work properly, blood can leak backwards through the heart in a condition called ‘mitral regurgitation’. This condition affects millions worldwide, and only grows alongside global life expectancy.
“Advancing our understanding of mitral valve function is dependent on developing synthetic alternatives that capture the valve’s complex mechanical behaviour, which is achieved in this study,” explained Dr Claire Conway, a lecturer in RCSI department of anatomy and regenerative medicine, and one of the authors of the new study published in Acta Biomaterialia.
