Dr. G. S. Bhuvaneshwar's Technological contributions:

Chitra Heart Valve:

The Chitra tilting disc valve was developed in India to meet the need for a low-cost cardiac valve. The valve has an integrally machined cobalt-based alloy cage, an ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene disc, and a polyester suture ring. An important feature of this valve is its soft closing sound, by virtue of a plastic occluder.

In 1990, the Chitra heart valve was introduced into clinical use. The disc had a plano-convex shape with opening angle of 70 degrees. The free-floating disc was able to rotate on its centre to avoid the problem of thrombosis around the hinge as well as to distribute the wear over its surface. The plano-convex shape of the disc with inlet side flat, increases the inflow into the minor orifice. This shape also makes the fabrication of the cage and disc easier.

The results of a multi-center clinical study showed that “the Chitra valve appears to be safe and to have performance comparable with that of other currently used tilting disc valves. This valve costs substantially less than other valves, and is therefore within reach of a larger subset of Indian patients.”

 References:

1.   Distinguished Alumnus award – 1999: Citation for Dr.G.S.Bhuvaneshwar

2.   Developments in mechanical heart valve prosthesis www.ias.ac.in/sadhana/Pdf2003JunAug/Pe1107.pdf

3.   Chitra heart valve: results of a multicenter clinical study www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11603602&dopt=Abstract