Modeling Cardiovascular Anatomy from Patient-Specific Imaging Data.

Abstract

The importance of modern imaging techniques for capturing detailed structural information of a biological system cannot be understated. Unfortunately images do not reveal the “full functional story” and a spatially realistic computer model is often necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the complicated structural and physiological properties of the biological system's entities under investigation [1]. Deeper insights into structure-to-function relationships of different entities is achieved via finite element simulations of the modeled biomedical process. A 3D (three dimensional) finite element meshed computer model of the biological system is therefore a first step to perform such simulations.The behavioral attributes of a biological entity or the physiological interaction between different participating components of a biological system are often modeled mathematically via a coupled set of differential and integral equations, and quite often numerically evaluated using finite element (or boundary element) simulations. To further emphasize the premise of cardiac modeling from imaging data, we state a few computational biomedical modeling and simulation examples: 3D computational modeling of the human heart for a quantitative analysis of cyclical electrical conductance on the heart membrane [2–6]; the biomechanical properties (stress-strain, elasticity) of the heart ventricular walls [7–12]; 3D modeling and simulation of pulsatile blood flow through human arteries/veins for vascular by-pass surgery pre-planning on a patient specific basis [13–18]. A finite element decomposition of the geometric domain, capturing the detailed spatial features that can be gleaned from the imaging, is therefore the essential first step toward performing the necessary numerical simulations [19–22].