ABSTRACT
An in vitro study was performed to modify the conventional mock circulatory loop to evaluate the effects of different prosthetic heart valve occluders on normal and sickle red blood cell hemolysis. Under the same hemodynamic pressure and flow condition, the hemolytic percentage monotonically increased with the heart rates for all types of occluders. Compared to the caged-ball and unileaflet occluders, the bileaflet prosthetic heart valve occluder exhibited the lowest hemolytic level for all heart rates tested for normal and sickle red blood cells. For sickle red blood cells, the data indicate that hemolytic levels are influenced by the blood type rather than the design of the valve occluder. Caged-ball and unileaflet valve occluders demonstrated inconsistent hemolytic behavior over the range of tested heart rates; thus, the merit of one type of occluder over the other has not been established. The results also indicate that homozygote sickle cells are more susceptible to heart valve occluders than heterozygote cells