Validation of a cardiovascular model identification method in porcine trials

A model of the cardiovascular system (CVS) has previously been validated in simulated cardiac and circulatory disease states. In these studies, a lumped parameter model representing the hemodynamics of the body is personalised to each individual. In this research, the effects of pulmonary embolism (PE) in porcine trials are investigated using the existing model and an improved parameter identification method. The new method requires only a minimal set of measurements that are available in a typical intensive care unit (ICU) including blood pressure, cardiac output and electrocardiogram. In this paper, the CVS model is used to track temporal changes in disease dependent parameters such as pulmonary resistance to follow the progression of PE during the trials. The patient-specific models correctly identified all the major physiological trends associated with PE and the model outputs closely matched the measured data. In particular, matching of the modeled to measured left and right ventricle pressures and volumes, which were not used in the parameter identification process, provide verification of the models accuracy. These results suggest the potential for implementation in an ICU setting.