Thesis
Mechanical properties and structure of bovine pericardium
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 1989
- Thesis identifier
- T6340
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Chemically modified bovine pericardium has been used for heart valve substitutes for over 15 years. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of such valves show unsatisfactory performance, which may be related to the mismatch of the mechanical properties of the leaflets. This thesis reports an investigation of the mechanical properties and structure of native bovine pericardium, from which the leaflets are ultimately made. The thesis consists of 11 chapters, each containing an introduction defining the main theme of the chapter and where appropriate, short literature reviews. There are summaries and discussions at the ends of each section highlighting important conclusions. The first chapter outlines the reasons for studying the mechanical properties of native bovine pericardium and the methods and rationale of the experimental studies. The next 3 chapters discuss the mechanical properties of the tissue. Chapter 3 reviews currently available test methods and the results obtained using them to study pericardium. Chapter 4 describes the development and validation of a non-destructive biaxial inflation test, and results obtained on native pericardial specimens. These specimens were then subjected to uniaxial tension tests which are described in chapter 5, which also describes the regional heterogeneity of the pericardial sac. Chapter 6 describes the angular variation of the strength, extensibility and stiffness of the tissue under uniaxial tension and presents empirical and structure based descriptions of the results. Chapter 7 describes the optical properties and histiological structure of the tissue, and draws comparisons with the mechanical anisotropy. Chapter 8 describes the function of natural heart valves and the requirements of bioprosthetic substitutes. The next chapter describes the effect of chemical modification by glutaraldehyde on the mechanical behaviour of pericardium; the modifications in properties produced by fatigue testing and in-vivo implantations are also reported. Chapter 10 describes the development of a structure-based model of the mechanical properties of the tissue and shows that it can adequately describe the mechanical response under different loading conditions. The last chapter contains a summary of the conclusions reached.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Barbenel, J. C. (Joseph C.), 1937-
- Resource Type
- DOI
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