Video-Based Measuring of Quality Parameters for Tricuspid Xenograft Heart Valve Implants

Defective heart valves are often replaced by implants in open-heart surgery. Both mechanical and biological implants are available. Among biological implants, xenograft ones - i.e., valves grafted from animals such as pigs, are widely used. Good implants should exhibit certain typical anatomical and functional characteristics to successfully replace the native tissue. Here, we describe a video-based system for measuring quality parameters of xenograft heart valve implants, including the area of the orifice and the fluttering of the valves´ leaflets, i.e., their flaps (or cusps). Our system employs automatic methods that provide a precise and reproducible way to infer the quality of an implant. The automatic analysis of both a valve´s orifice and the fluttering of its leaflets offers a more comprehensive quality assessment than current, mostly manual methods. We focus on valves with three leaflets, i.e., aortic, pulmonary, and tricuspid valves.