A quasi-static biomechanical model of the human myocardium based on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance images

Abstract

The left ventricle (LV) has an important mechanical part in pumping blood throughout the body and it is generally sensitive to the failure. Heart failure is one of the world's leading causes of death and has reached the epidemic rate. For the study of heart failure, there are several diagnostic methods, but computational biomechanical models of human myocardium would be a practical tool in diagnostics and patient specific treatment planning. These models help in classifying myocardium pathologies. In this paper, we developed a quasi-static biomechanical model of the LV for healthy subjects based on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) acquisition. Estimation LV strain is done using Finite Element (FE) software Abaqus and clinical assessment measured from 20 healthy subjects, such as End Systole (ES) and End Diastole (ED) volumes, ED wall thickness and wall thickening. We acquired LV End Systole strain component is within one standard deviation of the measurements made in the equatorial region of LV. The results of this study suggest that the proposed FE model of LV describes the physiological function of the heart and can differentiate between normal and pathological cardiac function.