NUMERICAL SIMULATOR FOR ESTIMATION OF MECHANICAL FUNCTION OF HUMAN LEFT-VENTRICLE - (STUDY OF BASIC SYSTEM)

A numerical simulation system for the estimation of mechanical propert ies and functions of the human left ventricle has been constructed in an interdisciplinary research project spanning the medical and enginee ring fields. The numerical simulation system can be expected to improv e the diagnostic techniques for heart diseases from empirical, subject ive, and qualitative ones to scientific, objective and quantitative on es. The system is integrated by four fundamental models: (1) a mechani cal model of myocardial muscle fiber which produces the active force, (2) a mechanical model of the left ventricle which is composed of the model muscle fiber, (3) a transmission model of electric stimulus, and (4) a circulatory system model which gives the after-and pre-loads to the left ventricular model. In this paper, the fundamental system of the simulator is explained, and some typical examples of computational results obtained by this system are shown and discussed.