Interventricular Interaction Research

intraventricular displacement mapping

Interventricular Interactions in Heart with Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation

Heart failure is prevalent problem affecting the health of individuals worldwide. With an aging population, it is projected that roughly 8 million Americans will be affected by the disease by 2030. While heart transplantation remains the optimal treatment for heart failure, the shortage of available, transplant-worthy organs makes mechanical ventricular assistance a common intervention.  With intervention using a left ventricular assistive device, 50% of recipients experience right ventricular failure after implantation. In addition, the complicated nature of disease onset and management prevent the effective utilization of existing therapeutic options. 

With this in mind, the Fan Flow Integrated Research Laboratory seeks to develop a biventricular finite element model to investigate the factors affecting interventricular interactions after left ventricular assist device implantion. To accomplish this, the F2IRL will capture data from laboratory experiments and utilize existing experimental models and relevant data. The completion of this project will provide insight into interventricular interactions in LVAD recipients, contributing to improved patient outcomes and reduced mortality rates for heart failure patients for generations to come. 

  • Interventricular Interaction Schematic
  • Head vs Flow
  • Pressure vs Volume

Electrical schematic with left ventricular assistive device

Image: Schematic of the closed-loop lumped parameter framework that couples the LVAD and biventricular model

Line graph showing head vs flow in heart with synchronization device at various speeds

Image shows head (y axis) vs flow (x axis) of blood in heart at pump inlet after implantation of left ventricular assist device at speeds of 3K (pink), 4K (yellow), 5K (purple), 6K (brown), 7K (green), 8K (blue) and 9K (aqua) ROM.  Head measures between zero (bottom) to 300 (top) mmHg.  Flow rate is measured from zero (left) to 12 (right) liters per minute.

Pressure vs volume with intraventricular device at various speeds

Image shows pressure (y-axis, from 1 to 120 mmHg) and V (x-axis, from 140 to 210 ml) in heart failure (black) and with left ventricular assistive device at speeds of 5K RPM (pink), 7K RPM (green), and 9K RPM (aqua). 

Image (Top of page):  Displacement mapping of interventricular interactions (from left to right) in heart failure and with HeartMate III at speeds of 5K, 7K, and 9K RPM, showing a displacement magnitude of between 1.2e+00 (red) and 7.1e-03 (blue)

 

 

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