Annulus Tension on the Tricuspid Valve: An In-Vitro Study

Annulus tension (AT) is defined as leaflet tension per unit length of the annulus circumference. AT was investigated to understand tricuspid valve (TV) annulus mechanics. Ten porcine TVs were mounted on a right ventricle rig with an annulus plate to simulate TV closure. The TVs were mounted on the annulus plate in a normal and dilated TV annulus sizes, and closed under transvalvular pressure of 40 mmHg with the annulus held peripherally by wires. Anterior papillary muscle (PM) and septal PM were displaced in the dilated annulus. Wire forces were measured, and ATs (N/m) were calculated. Clover repair was performed in the dilated TV state subsequently, and AT was calculated again. A one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test were used to test significances between the different TV states along each annulus segment with p < 0.05. Average ATs for the normal annulus, dilated annulus, and clover repair were 10.75 ± 1.87, 28.81 ± 10.51, and 26.93 ± 11.44 N/m, respectively. Septal annulus segments had the highest ATs when compared to the other segments. For the clover repair, there were no significant changes in AT values. ATs and leaflet forces increased roughly 3–4 times with annulus dilation. AT decelerates annulus dilation as previously shown in the mitral valve. Clover repair does not prevent further annulus dilation by AT change and should be accompanied by annuloplasty. AT improves annulus contraction during a cardiac cycle and should be considered when designing annuloplasty in the future.