Dimensional reductions of a cardiac model for effective validation and calibration

Biomechics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 13:897-914 🔗 📘

Abstract

Complex 3D beating heart models are now available, but their complexity makes calibration and validation very difficult tasks. We thus propose a systematic approach of deriving simplified reduced-dimensional models, in “0D”—typically, to represent a cardiac cavity, or several coupled cavities—and in “1D”—to model elongated structures such as muscle samples or myocytes. We apply this approach with an earlier-proposed 3D cardiac model designed to capture length-dependence effects in contraction, which we here complement by an additional modeling component devised to represent length-dependent relaxation. We then present experimental data produced with rat papillary muscle samples when varying preload and afterload conditions, and we achieve some detailed validations of the 1D model with these data, including for the length-dependence effects that are accurately captured. Finally, when running simulations of the 0D model pre-calibrated with the 1D model parameters, we obtain pressure–volume indicators of the left ventricle in good agreement with some important features of cardiac physiology, including the so-called Frank–Starling mechanism, the End-Systolic Pressure–Volume Relationship, as well as varying elastance properties. This integrated multidimensional modeling approach thus sheds new light on the relations between the phenomena observed at different scales and at the local versus organ levels.

Main contribution

This article introduces two geometrically simplified models of a cardiac fiber and a ventricle, which can be used for validation and calibration purposes of contraction models. The proposed approach indeed allows for a relatively realistic simulation of a heartbeat with a reasonable computational cost. Many studies, including clinical ones, now utilize these reduced models.

Reference

@article{caruel-2014,
  title = {Dimensional Reductions of a Cardiac Model for Effective Validation and Calibration},
  author = {Caruel, M. and Chabiniok, R. and Moireau, P. and Lecarpentier, Y. and Chapelle, D.},
  year = {2014},
  journal = {Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology},
  volume = {13},
  number = {4},
  pages = {897--914},
  doi = {10/gmtzn6},
  urldate = {2021-09-16},
  langid = {en}
}