Although mitral valve (MV) repair initially restores normal leaflets coaptation and stops MV regurgitation, in long term it can also dramatically change the leaflet geometry and stress distribution that may be in part responsible for limited repair durability. As shown for other collagenous tissues, such changes in geometry and loading reorganize the fiber architecture. In addition, MV interstitial cells respond to the altered stress by undergoing alterations in biosynthetic function, which would affect the load-bearing capabilities of MV and its long-term durability. Thus, investigating the repair-induced MV stress and the concomitant microstructural alterations is a key step in assessing the repaired valve durability. Finite element models have been widely used for stress analysis of the mitral valve [1-3]. Most of these models, however, have employed only basic constitutive models and utilized simplified valve geometry.
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