Computer simulation of ventricular wall motion using the finite element method.

To investigate how changes in the mechanical characteristics of the myocardium caused by cardiac diseases affect ventricular wall motion, a new computer program to simulate wall motion using the finite element method has been developed. A simple two-dimensional finite element model of the left ventricle is designed with an idealized tension-length curve applied to each element. Pathological changes in the ischemic process are induced in a certain portion of the model to make it possible to evaluate the relationship between the type and degree of changes and abnormal ventricular wall motion (i.e., hypokinesis, akinesis, and dyskinesis). Assumption of plastic deformation at the affected site of the model reproduced the genesis of a ventricular aneurysm. The model is then transformed into a three-dimensional wire frame structure, and the results can viewed from any perspective. These simulations enable the semiquantitative comprehension of cardiac wall motion without need for complicated physiological experiments and may be applied to human cardiac motion in combination with data obtained from cardiac scintigraphy, echocardiography, ventriculography, or cine-CT.