Figure 1

Hemodynamics pre- and post-mitral valve repair in sheep. White arrows indicate the direction of flow, yellow arrows indicate the repair ring artifact (not present in Duran rings) (a) baseline diastolic flow is oriented towards apex with two counter-rotating vortices. This is a single toroid in a 3D view (b) baseline systolic flow (c) 1 wk post-repair with a 24 mm Physio annuloplasty ring. The anterior vortex is dissipated and there is a single, large posterior vortex (d) 1 wk post-repair systolic flow in which posterior vortex continues to circulate and eject (e) correlation between post-repair peak velocity and annuloplasty ring area (f) inflow angle is difference from valve coaptation to apex and angle of flow directed towards vena contracta.