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Analysis of cardiac ventricular wall motion based on a three-dimensional electromechanical biventricular model

Ling Xia1, Meimei Huo2, Qing Wei3, Feng Liu3,1 and Stuart Crozier3

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This paper describes a biventricular model, which couples the electrical and mechanical properties of the heart, and computer simulations of ventricular wall motion and deformation by means of a biventricular model. In the constructed electromechanical model, the mechanical analysis was based on composite material theory and the finite-element method; the propagation of electrical excitation was simulated using an electrical heart model, and the resulting active forces were used to calculate ventricular wall motion. Regional deformation and Lagrangian strain tensors were calculated during the systole phase. Displacements, minimum principal strains and torsion angle were used to describe the motion of the two ventricles. The simulations showed that during the period of systole, (1) the right ventricular free wall moves towards the septum, and at the same time, the base and middle of the free wall move towards the apex, which reduces the volume of the right ventricle; the minimum principle strain (E3) is largest at the apex, then at the middle of the free wall and its direction is in the approximate direction of the epicardial muscle fibres; (2) the base and middle of the left ventricular free wall move towards the apex and the apex remains almost static; the torsion angle is largest at the apex; the minimum principle strain E3 is largest at the apex and its direction on the surface of the middle wall of the left ventricle is roughly in the fibre orientation. These results are in good accordance with results obtained from MR tagging images reported in the literature. This study suggests that such an electromechanical biventricular model has the potential to be used to assess the mechanical function of the two ventricles, and also could improve the accuracy of ECG simulation when it is used in heart–torso model-based body surface potential simulation studies.


PACS

87.19.Hh Cardiac dynamics

87.19.R- Mechanical and electrical properties of tissues and organs

87.19.X- Diseases

87.80.-y Biophysical techniques (research methods)

02.70.Dh Finite-element and Galerkin methods

Subjects

Computational physics

Instrumentation and measurement

Medical physics

Biological physics

Dates

Issue 8 (21 April 2005)

Received 13 November 2004, in final form 9 February 2005

Published 6 April 2005



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