Elucidating the turbulence nature of the intracardiac flow: from medical images to multi-cycle Large Eddy Simulations

TL;DR

This study uses patient-specific medical imaging and large-eddy simulations to analyze the turbulent intracardiac flow in the left heart, revealing intermittent turbulence correlated with flow decelerations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining medical imaging and multi-cycle large-eddy simulations to study intracardiac turbulence in a realistic heart model.

Findings

Flow exhibits turbulence and intermittent turbulent spots.

Turbulence correlates with flow decelerations.

Patient-specific geometry influences flow dynamics.

Abstract

This brief article accompanies a fluid dynamics video presenting the results of a large-eddy simulation of the flow in a realistic left heart. The left heart geometry, from the pulmonary veins to the aortic root, is extracted from medical images and the endocardium movements are reconstructed through image registration. Large-eddy simulations are thus performed in a patient-specific heart model, where the patient-specific movements of the geometry are prescribed. The flow obtained is intermittent, showing both in the left atrium and in the left ventricle turbulent spots correlated to flow decelerations.