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Classification of heart valve condition using acoustic measurements

Conference ·
OSTI ID:145958
 [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
Prosthetic heart valves and the many great strides in valve design have been responsible for extending the life spans of many people with serious heart conditions. Even though the prosthetic valves are extremely reliable, they are eventually susceptible to long-term fatigue and structural failure effects expected from mechanical devices operating over long periods of time. The purpose of our work is to classify the condition of in vivo Bjork-Shiley Convexo-Concave (BSCC) heart valves by processing acoustic measurements of heart valve sounds. The structural failures of interest for Bscc valves is called single leg separation (SLS). SLS can occur if the outlet strut cracks and separates from the main structure of the valve. We measure acoustic opening and closing sounds (waveforms) using high sensitivity contact microphones on the patient`s thorax. For our analysis, we focus our processing and classification efforts on the opening sounds because they yield direct information about outlet strut condition with minimal distortion caused by energy radiated from the valve disc.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
OSTI ID:
145958
Report Number(s):
CONF-9411140--Absts.; ON: DE95017252
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English