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An integrated electromechanical-growth heart model for simulating cardiac therapies

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Abstract

An emerging class of models has been developed in recent years to predict cardiac growth and remodeling (G&R). We recently developed a cardiac G&R constitutive model that predicts remodeling in response to elevated hemodynamics loading, and a subsequent reversal of the remodeling process when the loading is reduced. Here, we describe the integration of this G&R model to an existing strongly coupled electromechanical model of the heart. A separation of timescale between growth deformation and elastic deformation was invoked in this integrated electromechanical-growth heart model. To test our model, we applied the G&R scheme to simulate the effects of myocardial infarction in a realistic left ventricular (LV) geometry using the finite element method. We also simulate the effects of a novel therapy that is based on alteration of the infarct mechanical properties. We show that our proposed model is able to predict key features that are consistent with experiments. Specifically, we show that the presence of a non-contractile infarct leads to a dilation of the left ventricle that results in a rightward shift of the pressure volume loop. Our model also predicts that G&R is attenuated by a reduction in LV dilation when the infarct stiffness is increased.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Program (M. Genet) and a grant from the American Heart Association 14BGIA18850020 (J.F. Wenk).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Lik Chuan Lee

  2. Simula Research Laboratory, Oslo, Norway

    Joakim Sundnes & Samuel T. Wall

  3. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Martin Genet

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Jonathan F. Wenk

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  1. Lik Chuan Lee
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  2. Joakim Sundnes
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  3. Martin Genet
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  4. Jonathan F. Wenk
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  5. Samuel T. Wall
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Correspondence to Lik Chuan Lee.

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Lee, L.C., Sundnes, J., Genet, M. et al. An integrated electromechanical-growth heart model for simulating cardiac therapies. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 15, 791–803 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-015-0723-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-015-0723-8

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