Regional myocardial mechanics: Integrative computational models of flow-function relations

Many cardiac disorders result in regionally altered myocardial mechanics. A lthough myocardial strain distributions can be measured experimentally and clinically, regional wall stresses must be computed from computational mode ls. Combining these approaches can provide insight into the structural basi s of regional dysfunction under conditions such as acute myocardial infarct ion and ischemia-reperfusion. Recently, 3-dimensional computational models have helped to elucidate the structural basis of the functional border zone adjacent to acutely ischemic myocardium. They have also shown that heterog eneous dysfunction in ischemic-reperfused stunned myocardium does not neces sarily imply heterogeneous myofilament injury. Now that computational model s are able to reproduce many complex features of the 3-dimensional patterns of regional myocardial deformation observed experimentally, we suggest pos sible roles for such integrative models in clinical diagnosis.