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Updated: Aug 13, 2026
Optocardiography and Electrophysiology Studies of Ex Vivo Langendorff-perfused Hearts
Published on: November 7, 2019
Perfusion studies of steady flow in poroelastic myocardium tissue
E Y K Ng1, D N Ghista, R C Jegathese
1Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Singapore, 639798, Singapore. mykng@ntu.edu.sg
Insights
Investigating myocardial stress and heart failure risk, this study uses poroelastic analysis to understand how left ventricular (LV) pumping affects heart muscle perfusion. Findings reveal perfusion as a key indicator of the heart
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Computational Mechanics
Background:
- The heart's myocardium requires significant blood supply (5-10% of cardiac output).
- Understanding myocardium behavior is crucial for diagnosing cardiac conditions.
- Left ventricular (LV) pumping abnormalities can impact myocardial function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of myocardial stress and disease on LV myocardial perfusion.
- To explore the relationship between LV pumping abnormalities and myocardial perfusion.
- To establish LV myocardial perfusion as an index for heart failure risk.
Main Methods:
- Poroelastic analysis of myocardial tissue.
- Finite element method (FEM) modeling.
- Simulation of regional perfusion under various physiological loading conditions.
Main Results:
- Myocardial stress and LV pumping abnormalities significantly influence myocardial perfusion.
- Perfusion patterns varied with different loading conditions.
- The study provides a computational framework for analyzing myocardial mechanics and perfusion.
Conclusions:
- LV myocardial perfusion is a sensitive indicator of the LV's ability to meet workload demands.
- Abnormalities in myocardial perfusion may predict the risk of heart failure.
- Poroelastic FEM analysis is a valuable tool for studying cardiac function and disease.
Abstract:
The behaviour of the heart has always elicited interest and particularly the study of its myocardium, as 5-10% of the blood pumped by the heart is passed through the coronary arteries to the myocardium itself. An in-depth investigation of the myocardium behaviour is useful. The present work aims to investigate how myocardium perfusion is influenced by myocardial stress and diseased states, and in general by LV pumping abnormalities. LV myocardial perfusion can then serve as a possible index of the capacity of the LV to respond to its work demand, and thus of the risk of heart failure. The poroelastic analysis of the myocardium based on finite element method (FEM) for regional perfusion through a rectangular element with various physiological ranges of loading conditions was studied.
