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 hexahedral elements, and in each element the fiber direction was specified. This allows implementation of nearly any fiber structure and any geometry. We performed preliminary tests on the model. The model was deformed from its initial state to a final configuration. It was assumed that the fibers shorten or elongate to some known new value for each element. This, along with incompressibility constraints, could simulate a beating heart if the elongations of the fibers are known. The model was also deformed using imaging data as a priori information. Simple geometries of the cylinder and ellipsoid were investigated. The model can be used as a tool to help in understanding the movement of the myocardium during the heart cycle and the impact of infarctions on that movement.