Document Type

Book Contribution

Publication Date

1-2018

Publication Title

Advances in Experimental Surgery, Volume 1

Publisher

Nova Publishing

Abstract

Computational and in vitro methods offer powerful means to model the cardiovascular system and investigate biomechanics related to blood flow, cardiovascular tissue, and medical devices. These models can be constructed to directly describe human anatomy and physiology, and can be more highly controlled compared to animal models. Low-order models composed of lumped-parameter elements and simplified descriptions of cardiac function can capture the global physiology, while high-order models exhibiting detailed 3D anatomy and dynamics can provide highly realistic replication of biomechanical interactions in a small region of the circulation. Multiscale models offer the freedom to capture biomechanics in different regions at the desired level of details. In this chapter we describe the fundamentals and the current state-of-the-art of model construction both in the computational and in vitro approaches. These models have been applied to understand the physiologic impacts of medical device implantations, predict surgical outcomes, and investigate hemodynamics in vascular diseases; we present several illustrative case studies here. Finally we examine the pros and cons of each type of models and discuss the considerations in proper model selection for a research study.

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