title: Studying the influence of hydrogel injections into the infarcted left ventricle using the element-free Galerkin method.
abstract: Myocardial infarction is an increasing health problem worldwide. Because of an under-supply of blood, the cardiomyocytes in the affected region permanently lose their ability to contract. This in turn gradually weakens the overall heart function. A new therapeutic approach based on the injection of a gel into the infarcted area aims to support the healing and to inhibit adverse remodelling that can lead to heart failure. A computational model is the basis for obtaining a better understanding of the heart mechanics, in particular, how myocardial infarction and gel injections affect its pumping performance. A strain invariant-based stored energy function is proposed to account for the passive mechanical behaviour of the model, which also makes provision for active contraction. To incorporate injections an additive homogenization approach is introduced. The numerical framework is developed using an in-house code based on the element-free Galerkin method. The main focus of this contribution is to investigate the influence of gel injections on the mechanics of the left ventricle during the diastolic filling and systolic isovolumetric (isochoric) contraction phases. It is found that gel injections are able to reduce the elevated fibre stresses caused by an infarct.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Computational Continuum Mechanics Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Legner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skatulla
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: MBewu
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Rama
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sansour
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Franz
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate
keywords: computational cardiology; injection therapy; meshless method; myocardial infarction