| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Due to the relatively limited amount of work done to date on developing prosthetic vein (as opposed to cardiac) valves, advances in this topic require progress in three distinct areas: 1) improved device design, 2) relevant device testing conditions, and, 3) appropriate parameters for evaluation of results. It is the purpose of this paper to address two of these issues (#2 and #3) by: 1) performing a study of normal volunteers to quantify the anatomy and hemodynamic features of healthy venous valves, 2) construction of a 2-step, <it>in vitro </it>testing procedure, which simulates both physiologic and postural conditions seen in the lower extremity venous system, and, 3) defining several modified and new parameters which quantify dynamic valve characteristics.</p>
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