The purpose of the project is to develop an efficient and accurate simulator for the electrical and mechanical behavior of the heart. The two phenomena are tightly coupled. The electrical activation precedes and triggers mechanical activation (the excitation-contraction coupling or EEC), and mechanical deformation of the tissue also influences the electrical properties (the mechano-electric feedback or MEF). The simplest and most common approach to simulate this process is to just ignore the MEF and pre-compute an electrical activation sequence and subsequently solve the mechanical problem. However, realistic simulation of the mechanical performance of the heart is not possible without solving the problem fully coupled. Mathematically, the problem is formulated as a system of partial and ordinary differential equations. The focus of the project will be to develop methods and software to solve the problem efficiently. In addition we will use the simulator to study problems related to cardiac function.
Possible applications of the simulator include:
- The hearts performance (cardiac output) under normal and pathological conditions
- Predisposing factors for arrhythmias and prospective drug treatments
- Mechanisms of electrical shocks (defibrillation)
