Simulation of Cardiac Flow: Analysis of Geometry Simplification

TL;DR

This study uses CFD to analyze how geometric simplifications of the left ventricle affect flow patterns and pressure predictions, highlighting the importance of detailed anatomy in cardiac flow modeling.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of geometric simplification on LV flow simulations by comparing detailed and smoothed models derived from high-resolution imaging data.

Findings

Simplified models show altered flow patterns compared to detailed models.

Pressure predictions are affected by geometric simplifications.

Detailed geometries are crucial for accurate LV flow modeling.

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of mortality worldwide. The contraction and relaxation of left ventricle (LV) is the main driving force of blood circulation. Altered LV hemodynamics is believed to be associated with the initiation and progression of many CVDs. Thus, understanding and evaluating the flow pattern inside a patient LV is thought to be essential to capture, and subsequently treat, cardiovascular dysfunction at early stages to reduce the mortality and morbidity rates. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models, often derived from patient-specific medical imaging, have been used to provide a more fundamental understanding of individual LV flow patterns and pressure fields. Such image-based modeling may advance diagnostic capabilities, treatment protocols and help guide clinicians to choose the most effective therapy of CVDs. Most prior ventricular flow studies obtained LV wall geometries from in vivo ultrasound-based or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images with limited resolution. The model geometries were often highly simplified and usually lacked the papillary muscles (PM) and the corrugated trabecular structures of the LV. Since the LV flow pattern is sensitive to geometry, it is important to understand the effect of this simplification on modeling intraventricular flow and pressure. Here we apply CFD modeling to a subject-specific porcine LV model with detailed ventricular structures and motion obtained from previous solid mechanics finite-element (FE) simulations based on high-resolution image data. We simplified the detailed LV endocardial surfaces to remove PM and trabecular structures and built a smoothed model that resembles the resolution of in vivo MRI images. We then compare the simulated LV flow pattern and pressure of the simplified models to those of the complex model.