No abstract

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become a popular alternative technique to surgical valve replacement for critical patients. Biological valve tissue has been used in TAVI procedures for over a decade, with over 150,000 implantations to date. However, with only 6 years of follow up, little is known about the long-term durability of biological tissue. Moreover, the high cost of tissue harvesting and chemical treatment procedures favor the development of alternative synthetic valve leaflet materials. In that context, textile polyester [polyethylene terephthalate (PET)] could be considered as an interesting candidate to replace the biological valve leaflets in TAVI procedures. However, no result is available in the literature about the behavior of textile once in contact with biological tissue in the valve position. The interaction of synthetic textile material with living tissues should be comparable to biological tissue. The purpose of this preliminary work is to compare the in vivo performances of various woven textile PET valves over a 6-month period in order to identify favorable textile construction features. In vivo results indicate that fibrosis as well as calcium deposit can be limited with an appropriate material design.

This paper deals with physical properties and compression behavior of new insole structure. This insole is developed based on a new 3D fibrous structure made of recycled polyester nonwoven (110 g/cm 2 ) laminated with different textile materials by the use of a patented vertical-lapping process (VERTILAP Õ ). To characterize physical and mechanical properties of the 3D structures, a methodology has been set up and new testing methods have been developed. The results of this study have shown interesting properties in terms of comfort and compression behavior (under static and dynamic loading). It has been observed that the 3D structure laminated with hemp woven fabric has the highest water absorbency, the highest thermal conductivity and the coolest touch effect compared to nonwoven made of a blend of polyester and viscose fibers. The compression behavior of the insole has been influenced by the physical properties of the 3D structure. The insoles developed in this work have a viscoelastic behavior with cushioning properties and can resist up to 218 kPa at 50% of deformation under static compression conditions and dissipate sufficient energy (higher than

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement has become today a largely considered alternative technique to surgical valve replacement in patients with high risk for open chest surgery. Biological valve tissue used in the transcatheter devices has shown success over 5 years now, but the procedure remains expensive. Moreover, different studies point out potential degradations that the tissue can undergo when folded to lower diameter and released in calcified environment with irregular geometry, which may jeopardize the durability of the device. The use of synthetic materials, like textile in particular, to replace biological valve leaflets would help reducing the procedure costs, and limit the degradations when the valve is crimped. Textile polyester material has been extensively used in the vascular surgery and is characterized by outstanding folding and strength properties combined with proven biocompatibility. However, the friction effects that occur between filaments and between yarns within a fabric under flexure loading could be critical for the resistance of the material on the long term. The purpose of this study was to assess the early fatigue performances of textile valve prototypes under accelerated cyclic loading up to 200 Mio cycles. Durability tests show that the fibrous material undergoes rearrangements between fibrous elements within the textile construction and the mechanical properties are modified on the long term. But testing is not complete with 200 Mio cycles. The material should be tested up to a higher number of cycles in future work to test the effective long-term durability. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 104B: 986-992, 2016.