A methodology of measuring coronary flow in a porcine aortic root using a pulsatile flow loop

The purpose of the study is to develop an ex vivo testing methodology to quantify coronary artery flow using a pulsatile left heart simulator. A dissected porcine aorta was mounted on a Vivitro left heart simulator and its coronary artery flow was measured and calibrated to match previously recorded human coronary data^[1]. The method of aortic root attachment proved to fit the flow loop with no fluid leakage and the coronary flow conditions were found to match the baseline data trends with relatively good accuracy. This methodology may facilitate ex vivo measurement of coronary flow under various transcatheter valve deployment conditions.