title: A computational model that predicts reverse growth in response to mechanical unloading.
abstract: Ventricular growth is widely considered to be an important feature in the adverse progression of heart diseases, whereas reverse ventricular growth (or reverse remodeling) is often considered to be a favorable response to clinical intervention. In recent years, a number of theoretical models have been proposed to model the process of ventricular growth while little has been done to model its reverse. Based on the framework of volumetric strain-driven finite growth with a homeostatic equilibrium range for the elastic myofiber stretch, we propose here a reversible growth model capable of describing both ventricular growth and its reversal. We used this model to construct a semi-analytical solution based on an idealized cylindrical tube model, as well as numerical solutions based on a truncated ellipsoidal model and a human left ventricular model that was reconstructed from magnetic resonance images. We show that our model is able to predict key features in the end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship that were observed experimentally and clinically during ventricular growth and reverse growth. We also show that the residual stress fields generated as a result of differential growth in the cylindrical tube model are similar to those in other nonidentical models utilizing the same geometry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA, likchuan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Genet
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Acevedo-Bolton
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ordovas
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guccione
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kuhl
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004548:Elasticity; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011312:Pressure; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D016474:Weight-Bearing