Cardiovascular Mathematics: Prevention, Promotion and Treatment

Abstract

IntroductionCardiovascular disease is the first cause of death in the world, being heart failure responsible for most of the hospital admissions. There is a strong relationship between heart failure and chronic renal disease, where kidney disease is one of the major contributors to cardiac damage and, likewise, heart disease promotes a progression of chronic kidney disease. Our main goal was to understand the dynamics of this vicious cycle in a person with heart failure and investigate mechanisms to prevent and treat this pathology.MethodsTo achieve this, a mathematical model was proposed based on fluid mechanics. We assumed the cardiovascular system as a circuit with two pumps (Right and Left ventricles) and 7 resistances: 4 that represent the cardiac valves (Tricuspid, Pulmonary, Mitral and Aortic), the systemic, renal and pulmonary capillaries. The model included compliances and resistances as parameters, and pressures, volume and flows were determined for each segment in the circulatory system. Parameters were determined according to anatomical and physiological properties found in the literature. The model was implemented in MATLAB (The MathWorks®, Inc.).ResultsThe mathematical model showed how the renal system is integrated with the cardiovascular pump. The model demonstrated that physicians have a short time period of action in order to preserve the renal function in patients with cardiovascular diseases, and also emphasize in a way to prevent the progression from heart disease to renal failure. We were able to compare the pressure‐volume curves for disease and healthy states and establish the main challenges for the circulatory system under these conditions.ConclusionsThe mathematical model was helpful to understand the normal and pathological functioning of the cardiovascular and renal systems. In particular, our ability to keep track of total blood volume gave insight into the relationship between renal and cardiac malfunction. This approach could be the mainstay for health prevention, promotion and opportune treatment in cardiorenal syndrome.Support or Funding InformationResearch Group in Mathematical and Computational Biology (BIOMAC), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.