Deformable model of the heart with fiber structure

A kinematic model of the heart with incompressibility constraints was implemented. It accounts for the effects of the heart fiber structure, which plays a major role in defining the exact motion of the heart during the cardiac cycle. The volume of the heart was divided into small cubical elements, and in each element the fiber direction was specified. This allows implementation of nearly any fiber structure and any geometry. We performed preliminary testing of the model. The model was deformed from its initial state to a final configuration, assuming that fibers shorten or elongate to some known new value for each element. This can simulate a beating heart if the elongations are known. The model was also deformed using imaging data as a priori information. Simple geometries of the cylinder and ellipsoid were used. We see the model as a tool to help in understanding the movement of the myocardium during the heart cycle and the impact of infarctions on that movement. We will use the model imaging information from experimental gated SPECT and PET. The validation of the model will be done with the tagged MRI imaging.