Muscle pathway geometry in the heart wall

Muscle fiber pathways in the heart wall are described. Procedures are introduced which permit data to be standardized from cadaver and animal hearts fixed at different points of the cardiac cycle or obtained in vivo from patients with different ejection fractions and heart masses. Design criteria are also developed here to construct a hypothetical standard left ventricle to compare the data from different hearts. The equations allow the nested set of toroidal fiber-shells to be depicted with typical muscle fiberpaths. With this formulation the heart wall and typical elements in it can be shown computergraphically as they move from the contracted state to the distended. Man-made fiber structures that simulate the fail-safe shockload absorbing features of the heart can now be designed and tested computergraphically by use of the mathematical procedures described here.