A CARDIAC-VALVE ENHANCED BY PERMANENT-MAGNET

The mitral valve Is a part of the heart located between the left atriu m and left ventricle. Valve prostheses have been available on the mark et for many years, In order to improve patients' comfort, prof A. CARP ENTIER has suggested using repelling permanent magnets in order to hel p the opening of the valve. For this device, work has been carried out to define the magnet system. This has been led to use of an original method to optimize the system using both analytical and numerical resu lts. A prototype has been built according to specifications taking the different optimizations into account and mass production will soon be implemented.