Project Description:

Bench-top anatomical modeling is an integral part of medical device development, as it enables designers and researchers to investigate how the devices they manufacture interact with the anatomy. At Boston Scientific, bench-top modeling could feature simulated-use or functionality testing. Simulated-use testing allows the designers, researchers, or physicians to mimic the intended use and/or test the functionality of the medical device. For heart disease related devices (e.g heart valves), simulated-use platforms will seek to mimic the pressure, and flow conditions of the cardiovascular system using a mock circulatory loop or pulse duplicator (PD). The PD facilitates the study of heart valve device characteristics and device parameters in a predictable, controlled, and reproducible manner. The ViVitro Pulse Duplicator system is a commercially available PD and is used to assess the hydrodynamics of prosthetic heart valves. The goal of this project is to develop a process of creating bench-top patient specific anatomical models (Customized ROI), which are optically clear for PIV studies, and will be amenable to the in-house ViVitro Pulse Duplicator system.