Development of an integrated model of cardiovascular and pulmonary physiology for the evaluation of mechanical ventilation strategies

We describe the development of an integrated cardiovascular and pulmonary model for use in the investigation of novel mechanical ventilation strategies in the intensive care unit. The cardiac model includes the cardiac chambers, the pulmonary circulation and the systemic circulation. The modeling of complex mechanisms for vascular segments, time varying elastance functions of cardiovascular components and the effect of vascular resistances, in health and disease under the influence of mechanical ventilation is investigated. The resulting biomedical simulator can aid in understanding the underlying pathophysiology of critically-ill patients and facilitate the development of more effective therapeutic strategies for evaluation in clinical trials.

I. Introduction

One of the primary tasks in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is to maintain the cardiopulmonary function of patients through, among other means, respiratory support using mechanical ventilation (MV). Such interventions can result in further risks to the patient, for example, large tidal volumes and ventilator pressures are detrimental to patients' lungs [1] while changes in lung inflation and thoracic pressure as a result of MV can have deleterious effects on the functioning of the cardiovascular system [2].