Abstract
The formation of vortex rings during the left ventricle (LV) filling is an optimized mechanism for blood transport, and the vorticity is an important measure of a healthy heart and LV. There is a relationship between abnormal diastolic vortex structure and impaired LV, and hence vortex identification is vital for understanding the underlying physical mechanism of blood flow. However, due to lack of quantitative methods, defining, computing and mapping the left ventricular vortices has not been rigorously studied previously. In this paper, a novel method of vortex detection based on the convolutional neural network (CNN) is created, which enables determination of the boundary of vortex and integrates the local and global flow fields. We have used the CNN-based vortex identification and vector flow mapping (VFM) to quantify left ventricular vorticity. In the clinical application of our methodology to healthy subjects and uremic patients, we find differences in the strength and position of the vortices between healthy and patients with uremia cardiomyopathy. Our results can accurately indicate the role of vortex formation in intracardiac flow, and provide new insights into the blood flow within the heart structure.
Highlights
Left ventricle (LV) fluid dynamics presents a complex flow phenomenon
We implement the method based on the convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify the vortex in the LV during the complete cardiac filling process, compute and map the spiraling flow fields, and compare them for healthy people and patients with uremia cardiomyopathy
We use an in-house data set that contains 400 LV velocity rectangular arrays attached with associated labels in different states to train the CNN model
Summary
Left ventricle (LV) fluid dynamics presents a complex flow phenomenon. During the LV filling, the blood flow begins with the transmitral flow achieving a maximal velocity of about 100 cm/s into the LV. In less than a second, the blood flow in LV changes direction and leaves the LV into the ascending aorta with a maximal velocity of about 66 cm/s. During the course of an optimized flow path, a vortex flow is developed during diastole, to redirect the blood flow toward the LV outflow tract.[1] Earlier studies have shown that the vorticity is an important measure of LV diastolic function and overall heart health.[1] quantitative measurements of vorticity can provide deeper insights into hemodynamics within the heart
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