Assessment of left ventricular viscoelastic components based on ventricular harmonic behavior

Introduction to Hemodynamic Forces Analysis: Moving Into the New Frontier of Cardiac Deformation Analysis

The potential relevance of blood flow for describing cardiac function has been known for the past 2 decades, but the association of clinical parameters with the complexity of fluid motion is still not well understood. Hemodynamic force (HDF) analysis represents a promising approach for the study of blood flow within the ventricular chambers through the exploration of intraventricular pressure gradients. Previous experimental studies reported the significance of invasively measured cardiac pressure gradients in patients with heart failure. Subsequently, advances in cardiovascular imaging allowed noninvasive assessment of pressure gradients during progression and resolution of ventricular dysfunction and in the setting of resynchronization therapy. The HDF analysis can amplify mechanical abnormalities, detect them earlier compared with conventional ejection fraction and strain analysis, and possibly predict the development of cardiac remodeling. Alterations in HDFs provide the earliest signs of impaired cardiac physiology and can therefore transform the existing paradigm of cardiac function analysis once implemented in routine clinical care. Until recently, the HDF investigation was possible only with contrast‐enhanced echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging, precluding its widespread clinical use. A mathematical model, based on the first principle of fluid dynamics and validated using 4‐dimensional‐flow‐magnetic resonance imaging, has allowed HDF analysis through routine transthoracic echocardiography, making it more readily accessible for routine clinical use. This article describes the concept of HDF analysis and reviews the existing evidence supporting its application in several clinical settings. Future studies should address the prognostic importance of HDF assessment in asymptomatic patients and its incorporation into clinical decision pathways.

Modeling radial viscoelastic behavior of left ventricle based on MRI tissue phase mapping

The viscoelastic behavior of myocardial tissue is a measure that has recently found to be a deterministic factor in quality of contraction. Parameters imposing the viscoelastic behavior of the heart are influenced in part by sarcomere function and myocardial composition. Despite the overall agreement on significance of cardiac viscoelasticity, a practical model that can measure and characterize the viscoelastic behavior of the myocardial segments does not yet exist. Pressure-Volume (P-V) curves are currently the only measure for stiffness/compliance of the left ventricle. However, obtaining P-V curves requires invasive cardiac catheterization, and only provides qualitative information on how pressure and volume change with respect to each other. For accurate assessment of myocardial mechanical behavior, it is required to obtain quantitative measures for viscoelasticity. In this work, we have devised a model that yields myocardial elastic and viscous damping coefficient functions through the cardiac cycle. The required inputs for this model are kinematic information with respect to changes in LV short axes that were obtained by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using a tissue phase mapping (TPM) pulse sequence. We evaluated viscoelastic coefficients of LV myocardium in two different age groups of 20-40 and greater than 60. We found that the magnitude of stiffness coefficients is noticeably greater in the older subjects. Additionally, we found that slope of viscous damping functions follow similar patterns for each individual age group. This method may shed light on dynamics of contraction through MRI in conditions where composition of myocardium is changed such as in aging, adverse remodeling, and cardiomyopathies.

The E-wave delayed relaxation pattern to LV pressure contour relation: model-based prediction with in vivo validation

The transmitral Doppler E-wave "delayed relaxation" (DR) pattern is an established sign of diastolic dysfunction (DD). Furthermore, chambers exhibiting a DR filling pattern are also expected to have a prolonged time-constant of isovolumic relaxation (tau). The simultaneous observation of a DR pattern and normal tau in the same heart is not uncommon, however. The simultaneous hemodynamic equivalent of the DR pattern has not been proposed. To determine the feature of the left ventricular (LV) pressure contour during the E-wave that is causally related to its DR pattern we applied kinematic and fluid mechanics based arguments to derive the pressure recovery ratio (PRR). The PRR is dimensionless and is defined by the left ventricular pressure difference between diastasis and minimum pressure, normalized to the pressure difference between a fiducial diastolic filling pressure and minimum pressure [PRR=(P(Diastasis)-P(Min))/(P(Fiducial)-P(Min))]. We analyzed 354 cardiac cycles from 40 normal sinus rhythm (NSR) subjects and 113 beats from nine atrial fibrillation (AF) subjects from our database of simultaneous transmitral flow-micromanometric LV pressure recordings. The fiducial pressure is defined by the end diastolic pressure in NSR and by the pressure at dP/dt(MIN) in the setting of AF. Consistent with derivation, PRR was linearly related to a DR pattern related, model-based relaxation parameter (R(2) = 0.77, 0.83 in NSR and AF, respectively). Furthermore, the PRR successfully differentiated subjects with a DR pattern from subjects with partial DR or normal E-wave pattern (p < 0.05). We conclude that the PRR may differentiate between subjects having a DR pattern and subjects with normal E-waves, even when tau cannot.

In vivo assessment of myocardial stiffness with acoustic radiation force impulse imaging

Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging has been demonstrated to be capable of visualizing variations in local stiffness within soft tissue. Recent advances in ARFI beam sequencing and parallel imaging have shortened acquisition times and lessened transducer heating to a point where ARFI acquisitions can be executed at high frame rates on commercially available diagnostic scanners. In vivo ARFI images were acquired with a linear array placed on an exposed canine heart. The electrocardiogram (ECG) was also recorded. When coregistered with the ECG, ARFI displacement images of the heart reflect the expected myocardial stiffness changes during the cardiac cycle. A radio-frequency ablation was performed on the epicardial surface of the left ventricular free wall, creating a small lesion that did not vary in stiffness during a heartbeat, though continued to move with the rest of the heart. ARFI images showed a hemispherical, stiffer region at the ablation site whose displacement magnitude and temporal variation through the cardiac cycle were less than the surrounding untreated myocardium. Sequences with radiation force pulse amplitudes set to zero were acquired to measure potential cardiac motion artifacts within the ARFI images. The results show promise for real-time cardiac ARFI imaging.

Influence of Ventricular Pressure Drop on Mitral Annulus Dynamics Through the Process of Vortex Ring Formation

Several studies have suggested that the mitral annulus displacement and velocity in early diastole can be used as indicators of diastolic performance. The peak velocity of the mitral annulus away from the LV apex during early diastole, which indicates the rate of longitudinal expansion of the LV, is reduced in patients with impaired diastolic relaxation. With the intention of relating the trans-mitral flow to mitral annulus plane dynamics, we measured mitral annulus recoil force for different valve sizes, while applying an exponential pressure drop in a simplified model of the ventricle. The temporal changes in diameter of the valve during rapid filling phase were also considered. The process of ventricular vortex formation was studied together with the measurement of mitral annulus recoil force within different pressure drop conditions. Matching the vorticity contour plots with the recoil force measurements resulted in the fact that the magnitude of recoil is maximal once the vortex ring is about to pinch off, regardless of the valve size or the characteristics of ventricular pressure drop. This study showed that the mitral annulus recoil is maximal once occurs at the vortex formation time ranging from 3.5 to 4.5. It was also shown that the presence of leaflets would dissipate the annulus recoil force.