Coronary blood flow: comparison between in vivo and numerical simulation data

Computer simulation is a valid approach to the in vitro study of cardiac hemodynamics and coronary blood flow mimicking a defined number of experimental variables. Mosher et al. studied coronary autoregulation and featured the coronary pressure-flow diagram being the best way of describing coronary vascular reserve. The graphic representation of the relation between instantaneous aortic pressure and coronary blood flow permits to study the different phases of the coronary flow during the cardiac cycle in different circulatory conditions. The purpose of the present work was to reproduce by a computer simulator, hemodynamic and coronary blood flow waveforms obtained during in vivo experiments in two anaesthetised open chest pigs (performed at the Institute of Clinical Physiology in Pisa -Italy). During the experiments, ECG, left ventricular pressure, aortic pressure and left ventricular volume were monitored together with the coronary blood flow.