Coronary Blood Flow: Comparison between in Vivo and Numerical Simulation Data

Computer simulation of cardiac haemodynamics represents an effective approach to the in vitro study of complex pathophysiological problems. Aim of our work was to reproduce, using a numerical simulator of the cardiovascular system, experimental waveforms of cardiac pressure and volumes, coronary blood flow and aortic pressure obtained in two anaesthetised open chest pigs. The computer simulator we used adopted a lumped parameters model to reproduce circulation. Variable elastance model reproduced the Starling's law of the heart. In pig#1 the correlation factors between in vivo and simulated instantaneous waveforms of systemic arterial pressure and coronary blood flow were 0.95 and 0.91 respectively. In pig#2 the correlation factors for the same waveforms were 0.97 and 0.98.