Biomechanical Modeling of the Cardiovascular System

ARMENTANO, R; CABRERA FISCHER, EDMUNDO; CYMBERKNOP, J.

IOP Publishing

Lugar: Bristol; Año: 2019 p. 300

978-07503-1282-0

The purpose of this book is to comment theoretical and practical topics concerned with cardiovascular modeling in human and animal research. Scientific research has developed different models that mimic those phenomena that require investigations concerning different fields of life sciences and technological developments in many sectors. Modeling of cardiovascular function is a great chapter of scientific research and constitutes a useful tool to confirm scientific hypotheses in the field of biological discoveries and the development of new technologies. In an attempt to reduce the number of deaths worldwide, medical research has developed physical and mathematical models in order to mimic the global and partial function of cardiac and vascular structures.Animal models were used for physiological research in ancient Greece and afterwards by Arab and European physicians (Ericsson, 2013). The fact that humans share biological characteristics with different animal species is the basis for the use of models to study normal and modified physiology. On the other hand, mathematical models allow mimicking any aspect of the world surrounding the researcher. Numerical modeling represents from a volcanic eruption to the function of a human organ. Simulation of the circulatory function has replaced a good number of physical models and at present mathematical models, in vitro setups and in vivo animal experimentation are complementary methods utilized in almost all biomedical laboratories.Models of cardiovascular function have different purposes and can be hydraulic, mechanical, electrical or numerical, all of them being useful tools incorporated not only in scientific research but also in teaching and to test prototypes emerging from technological research. Moreover, modeling cardiovascular function facilitates interdisciplinary research and links physicians, biomedical engineers and mathematicians, among others. At present, there are cardiovascular system models ensuring the simulation of any constitutive circulatory element. However, there are difficulties to obtain results with mathematical accuracy due to the geometrical complexities of the heart and vessels and the non-linear behaviour of the measured variables that characterize cardiovascular function. This is one of many explanations regarding the origin of mechanical and mathematical model complexity, which in all cases tries to reflect a real condition characterized by interaction between systems and subsystems. Moreover, local and external regulations that ensure the adaptation of cardiovascular function to the human environment takes into account a multiplicity of factors interacting with each other and providing data of isolated variables as in associations chosen by the researcher that use a specific modeling approach. On the other hand, the mentioned complexity of cardiovascular modeling compels the validation of any model using real data obtained from in vitro and in vivo experimental research and clinical practice through invasive and non-invasive measurements. Modeling has provided not only answers to questions related to normal or pathological function but also to predict multiple adaptations of the total and individual dynamic structures that are included in cardiovascular research.