Intramural Stress and Strain Analysis in the Intact Heart

Abstract

To meet the demands of the body the heart needs to propel a required amount of blood. Forces generated during contraction of the individual cardiac muscle fibres result in intramural stresses and strains which lead to intraventricular pressures. Up till now indices for cardiac function, derived from pressure data, have not been satisfactory (1). This is partly due to the reflection of the contraction of all contributing wall segments; effects of regional disturbances are not clearly represented by those parameters. Therefore, especially since coronary artery disease leads to regional myocardial damage, the need for regional contractile parameters is generally felt. In this study regional parameters have been determined using overall pressure and local geometry (changes). Regional stresses and strains were derived from measurements of momentaneous cardiac geometry and transmural pressures.