Factors influencing left-ventricular stiffness

The aim of the study was to investigate the relative contributions of geometrical and material factors to overall left-ventricular cavity stiffness. Left-ventricular cavity shapes were reconstructed using a computer and the variation of myocardial elastic modulus was calculated, by the finite element method, through the passive phase of diastole when rising volume coincided with rising pressure. Geometric data were obtained from biplane cineangiography, with micromanometer pressure measurements, for ten patients with left ventricular disease. Dimensional analysis was applied to the initial and derived data from which the influences of myocardial compliance, wall thickness-to-long dimension ratio, and aspect ratio (long-to-short axes) were determined. The ratio between the volume elasticity and the myocardial modulus of elasticity, the normalized stiffness ratio (NSR), is proposed as a useful index of left ventricular mechanical behaviour in diastole. The volume elasticity of the chamber is dependent not only upon the myocardium elastic modulus and the wall thickness ratio, but also on the shape of the chamber. Changes in the thickness/radius ratio of the ventricle have less effect upon its distention than those in the long dimension/radius ratio. The left ventricle becomes more spherical in shape through diastole and hence becomes stiffer by this geometric mechanism.