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Primary Outcome Assessment in a Pig Model of Acute Myocardial Infarction
Published on: October 14, 2016
Flow dynamics and energy efficiency of flow in the left ventricle during myocardial infarction
Vivek Vasudevan1, Adriel Jia Jun Low1, Sarayu Parimal Annamalai2
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Insights
Myocardial infarction (MI) reduces heart energy efficiency. A novel non-dimensional number, the Womersley number, effectively quantifies this efficiency and may serve as a clinical biomarker after heart attack.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease, including myocardial infarction (MI), is a major global health concern.
- Understanding cardiac energy efficiency post-MI is crucial for assessing heart function.
- The heart's ability to supply adequate energy for circulation is compromised after infarction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of myocardial infarction on left ventricular energy efficiency.
- To determine the influence of heart rate, stroke volume, and chamber size on cardiac energy flow.
- To identify a reliable non-dimensional parameter for quantifying flow energy efficiency in the heart.
Main Methods:
- Myocardial infarction was induced in a porcine model.
- Multiple-slice cine magnetic resonance (MR) images were acquired longitudinally.
- Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were performed on MR images to analyze fluid and energy dynamics.
Main Results:
- Cardiac energy efficiency flow decreased significantly at the acute phase post-MI.
- Increased heart rate and stroke volume were associated with decreased energy efficiency.
- The Womersley number (ratio of Reynolds to Strouhal number) effectively characterized flow energy efficiency.
Conclusions:
- Myocardial infarction impairs the heart's energy efficiency.
- The Womersley number is a promising non-dimensional parameter for assessing cardiac energy efficiency.
- This parameter could potentially be computed via ultrasound and used as a clinical biomarker.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, where myocardial infarction (MI) is a major category. After infarction, the heart has difficulty providing sufficient energy for circulation, and thus, understanding the heart's energy efficiency is important. We induced MI in a porcine animal model via circumflex ligation and acquired multiple-slice cine magnetic resonance (MR) images in a longitudinal manner-before infarction, and 1 week (acute) and 4 weeks (chronic) after infarction. Computational fluid dynamic simulations were performed based on MR images to obtain detailed fluid dynamics and energy dynamics of the left ventricles. Results showed that energy efficiency flow through the heart decreased at the acute time point. Since the heart was observed to experience changes in heart rate, stroke volume and chamber size over the two post-infarction time points, simulations were performed to test the effect of each of the three parameters. Increasing heart rate and stroke volume were found to significantly decrease flow energy efficiency, but the effect of chamber size was inconsistent. Strong complex interplay was observed between the three parameters, necessitating the use of non-dimensional parameterization to characterize flow energy efficiency. The ratio of Reynolds to Strouhal number, which is a form of Womersley number, was found to be the most effective non-dimensional parameter to represent energy efficiency of flow in the heart. We believe that this non-dimensional number can be computed for clinical cases via ultrasound and hypothesize that it can serve as a biomarker for clinical evaluations.
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