THE EFFECTS OF CARDIAC-INFARCTION ON REALISTIC 3-DIMENSIONAL LEFT-VENTRICULAR BLOOD EJECTION

The effect of cardiac infarction on the flow patterns in cardiac left ventricular ejection was studied using a realistic model which was mad e from the profile of the left ventricle of a dog heart in diastole. A coordinate measuring machine was used to measure the left ventricular coordinates, and these were input into a three-dimensional flow simul ation package. The left ventricular wall motion was described by havin g the walls moved towards the center of the aortic outlet, and in the case of infarcted tissue, the ventricular wall movement was diminished to simulate infarction flow behavior. The final ventricular volume va ried from 25 percent to 54.1 percent of the initial volume in cases wi thout and with infarction, respectively. The maximum blood ejection ve locities and ventricular pressure decreased significantly in the prese nce of infarction. Infarcted areas showed complex blood flow vortex fo rmation not present in the healthy ventricles. The computational techn ique presented here predicts infarction flow effects which could be ob served with measurement techniques such as ultrasound and magnetic res onance imaging, allowing a finer derail of understanding than using ei ther simulation or experimental measurements alone.