Image-guided Fluid-structure Interaction Simulations of Heart Valve Prosthesis

INTRODUCTION In spite of significant recent advances in imaging modalities for studying cardiac hemodynamics, present day in vivo measurement techniques can only resolve large scale blood flow features. Understanding flow patterns in the heart at physiological conditions and scales sufficiently fine for establishing quantitatively links between disease and patientspecific hemodynamics continues to remain a major research challenge. For instance, in vitro experiments and FSI computational studies have clearly shown that at physiological conditions the presence of a prosthetic heart valve gives rise to complex flow patterns characterized by fine scale flow structures and transition to turbulence. This complex and dynamically rich flow environment is widely believed to be a major culprit for the clinical complications that arise following implantation of valve prosthesis. High-resolution numerical simulation appears to be the only viable option for advancing our understanding of cardiac hemodynamics especially in the presence of prosthetic heart valves.