Effects of Left Atrial Wall Thickness on Myocardial Mechanics and Blood Dynamics using Multiscale Modeling

Patient-specific models of left atrial (LA) mechanics often assume uniform left atrial wall thickness (LAWT), but the effect of LAWT on the mechanics and hemodynamics remains less quantified.

Four LA myocardium models were built from gated CTA images: a baseline variable thickness (VT#0), two reduced-dilation variants, and a 2 mm uniform thickness model. Multiscale mechanics and blood flow simulations were performed across all the thickness variants using model parameters personalized on the baseline model. Predicted displacements, wall stresses and strains, and hemodynamics were compared.

Across all LAWT variants, myocardial volume spanned 14.4-19.9 mL (38%), while cavity volume remained mostly within 5% of image data throughout the cardiac cycle. Circulatory system output, myocardial displacements, and strains varied by 5-6% relative to the baseline model. Instantaneous stresses increased by up to 19% in the thinner variable thickness models and decreased by up to 16% in the uniformly thick case. Globally, the area under low time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS) varied between 23% and 30% across all thickness variants, while LA exposed to elevated oscillatory shear index (OSI) increased from nearly 6% to 19%. Over 90% of LAA was exposed to low shear, but the high-OSI area increased from 7% in VT#0 to over 30% in Uniform.

A personalized multiscale modeling framework was leveraged to demonstrate that the left atrial myocardial stresses and oscillatory shear had a greater sensitivity to local wall thickness representation compared to cavity volumes, tissue displacements, strains, and mean blood shear.