The identification of the aero-acoustic scattering matrix of an orifice in a duct is achieved by computational fluid dynamics. The methodology first consists in performing a large eddy simulation of a turbulent compressible flow, with superimposed broadband acoustic excitations. After extracting time series of acoustic data with a specific filter, system acoustic scattering matrix of the orific...

Twenty-three patients were evaluated by cardiac catheterization two to 12 months following aortic valve replacement with the porcine xenograft valve. These hemodynamic studies established a mean peak-to-peak systolic gradient across the prosthesis of 23 mm Hg with a range of 6-58 mm Hg. The mean effective orifice area was calculated to be 1.25 cm2. The effective orifice area increased with incr...

THE discharge of tears from an abnormally placed orifice was first reported by Sir William Mackenzie (1830). In his case the cutaneous orifice lay close to the lacrimal gland and appears to have been a fistula of the lacrimal gland itself. Over fifty years later Moritz (1898) reported a cutaneous orifice discharging tears and placed at some distance from the lacrimal gland complex. This latter ...

BACKGROUND A straightforward tricuspid valve (TV) repair technique was used to treat either moderate or severe functional (normal valve with dilated annulus) or for primary/organic (Ebstein's anomaly, leaflet retraction/tethering and chordal malposition/tethering, with annular dilatation) TV incompetence, and its long-term outcome assessed. METHODS A double-orifice valve technique was employe...

BACKGROUND Although Doppler color flow mapping is widely used to assess the severity of mitral regurgitation (MR), a simple, accurate, and quantitative marker of MR by color flow mapping remains elusive. We hypothesized that vena contracta width by color flow mapping would accurately predict the severity of MR. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 80 patients with MR. Vena contracta width was measu...

Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is an evolving field of minimally invasive surgery. NOTES reaches the target organ by inserting the endoscope through a natural orifice (e.g. mouth, anus, urethra, vagina) and offers advantages of less postoperative pain and lower complication rate. Since its first description in 2004, NOTES has progressed from use on animal models to huma...