Co-simulation of hypertensive left ventricle based on computational fluid dynamics and a closed-loop network model

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Physiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Hypertension is a leading cause of death, often leading to cardiac complications like myocardial hypertrophy.
• Cardiac remodeling in hypertension alters heart chamber energy dynamics and function.
• Early hypertension detection may involve analyzing left ventricular blood flow and energy loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simulate and predict the left ventricular flow domain in patients with hypertensive myocardial hypertrophy.
• To establish a computational model for analyzing cardiovascular dynamics under hypertensive conditions.

Main Methods:

• Developed a closed-loop cardiovascular model using MATLAB-SIMULINK.
• Employed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for numerical simulation.
• Performed co-simulation integrating the cardiovascular model and CFD.

Main Results:

• Compared simulation data with clinical experimental data for energy loss validation.
• Analyzed flow field characteristics in control, non-left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), and LVH groups.
• Observed irregular, underdeveloped vortices and significant energy loss in the LVH group.

Conclusions:

• The simulation method aligns with clinical data.
• Myocardial hypertrophy significantly impacts left ventricular blood flow dynamics.
• Abnormal vortex distribution and increased energy loss during systole/ejection are linked to poor cardiac function.