A computer model of the heart that obeys Starling's law

We developed a computer model of the heart that accurately reproduces human left ventricular pressure wave morphology. The model factors beat-to-beat venous return in generating cardiac output and simulates congestive heart failure when the venous return exceeds the heart's pumping capacity. The blood pressure waveform produced by our model resembles experimental data with a greater than 98% correlation and the model incorporates Starling's transfer function. The model is useful for simulations of cardiovascular hemodynamics where accurate waveforms and venous return feedback or modeling failing hearts are important.