ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on heart and heart valves, valve anatomy, dimensions of the valve, and principles of valve design. The heart has four chambers that are right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium, and left ventricle and four valves are tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral, and aortic valves. The valve anatomy has a direct bearing on valve function. Various dimensions of the aortic valve have been measured using different techniques in several mammalian species. The design of the natural aortic valve is based upon the principles of optimum performance. This principle of valve design must hold true for any trileaflet valve, including the natural pulmonary valve and all trileaflet prostheses. For the valve to give optimum performance, the following criteria were specified: a certain minimum coaptation height, no folds in the leaflet, minimum valve height, and minimum leaflet flexion. The line of leaflet attachment and the line of leaflet coaptation are the locations where the leaflets experience maximum flexion.
