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Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Lumped-Parameter and Finite Element Modeling of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
Published on: February 13, 2021
Benchtop Models of Patient-Specific Intraventricular Flow During Heart Failure and LVAD Support
Vi Vu1, Lorenzo Rossini2, Juan C Del Alamo3
1Bioengineering Program, Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182; Division of Biomedical Physics, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
A new mock loop accurately simulates heart failure and left ventricular assist device flow, validating its use for studying intraventricular dynamics and improving patient care.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Fluid Dynamics
Background:
- Intraventricular flow characterization is crucial for assessing fluid transport efficiency and thromboembolic risk in heart failure (HF) patients.
- Direct measurement is challenging, especially in advanced HF patients supported by left ventricular assist devices (LVADs).
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate an in-house mock loop (ML) for simulating intraventricular flow conditions in HF and LVAD patients.
- To compare flow-related indices, including vortex parameters, residence time (RT), and shear-activation potential (SAP).
Main Methods:
- Simulated patient-specific conditions using ML with inputs like heart rate, ventricular volumes, ejection fraction, and LVAD speed.
- Compared vortex parameters, RT, and SAP between patient data and ML simulations for normal/prosthetic mitral valves and varying left ventricle volumes.
Main Results:
- The ML accurately replicated vortex development, circulation patterns, and RT for HF patient simulations.
- LVAD simulations showed altered flow paths with a dominant stream from the mitral valve to the apex.
- RT estimations correlated well, but SAP was significantly higher in LVAD ML cases.
Conclusions:
- The validated ML system provides reliable and reproducible hemodynamics and fluid dynamics for patient-specific conditions.
- The ML is a suitable platform for investigating fluid dynamics in HF and LVAD patients.
- The ML can be used to study heart-implant interactions.
