Imaging of Explanted Mechanical Heart Valves

Extract

Prosthetic mechanical heart valves (MHVs) made from pyrolytic carbon (PYC) are a highly successful biomaterial application due to their excellent durability and clinically adequate blood compatibility. Their thromboresistance has been attributed to a combination of hemodynamics, material inertness, and surface properties which minimize platelet adhesion and activation. These surface properties include that polished PYC is smooth and that it strongly adsorbs plasma albumin, which is well known to reduce platelet adhesion. However, recent evidence suggests that this explanation is incomplete. Low voltage SEM shows that PYC valve leaflets are actually quite rough at submicron scales and that PYC induces extensive platelet spreading in vitro in the presence of albumin. Surprisingly few studies have examined MHVs explanted from humans or research animals for platelet adhesion and thrombosis using SEM. Moreover, in most studies it appears that even routine sample preparation methods for the preservation of biological samples for SEM,