A Computational Framework for Personalized Blood Flow Analysis in the Human Left Atrium.

In this study, our aim was to develop a clinically feasible methodology to perform personalized blood flow analysis within the heart. We propose an alternative computational approach to perform personalized blood flow analysis by providing the three-dimensional LA endocardial surface motion estimated from patient-specific cardiac CT images. In two patients (case 1 and 2), a four-dimensional displacement vector field was estimated using nonrigid registration. The LA blood outflow across the mitral valve (MV) was calculated from the LV volume, and the flow field within the LA was derived from the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation. The CFD results successfully captured characteristic features of LA blood flow observed clinically by transesophageal echocardiogram. The LA global flow characteristics and vortex structures also agreed well with previous reports. The time course of LAA emptying was similar in both cases, despite the substantial difference in the LA structure and function. We conclude that our CT-based, personalized LA blood flow analysis is a clinically feasible methodology that can be used to improve our understanding of the mechanism of intracardiac thrombosis and stroke in individual patients with LA structural remodeling. PMID: 26968855 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Annals of Biomedical Engineering - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Tags: Ann Biomed Eng Source Type: research