title: Impact of atrial fibrillation on the cardiovascular system through a lumped-parameter approach.
abstract: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia affecting millions of people in the Western countries and, due to the widespread impact on the population and its medical relevance, is largely investigated in both clinical and bioengineering sciences. However, some important feedback mechanisms are still not clearly established. The present study aims at understanding the global response of the cardiovascular system during paroxysmal AF through a lumped-parameter approach, which is here performed paying particular attention to the stochastic modeling of the irregular heartbeats and the reduced contractility of the heart. AF can be here analyzed by means of a wide number of hemodynamic parameters and avoiding the presence of other pathologies, which usually accompany AF. Reduced cardiac output with correlated drop of ejection fraction and decreased amount of energy converted to work by the heart during blood pumping, as well as higher left atrial volumes and pressures are some of the most representative results aligned with the existing clinical literature and here emerging during acute AF. The present modeling, providing new insights on cardiovascular variables which are difficult to measure and rarely reported in literature, turns out to be an efficient and powerful tool for a deeper comprehension and prediction of the arrythmia impact on the whole cardiovascular system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy. stefania.scarsoglio@polito.it.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scarsoglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guala
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camporeale
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ridolfi
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular