A New Circulation Model Combined With a Detailed Network Model of Arterial Blood Flow

This study developed a model of the entire cardiovascular system combined with a Laplace heart based on the numerical cardiac-cell model and a detailed arterial-network structure. Our model incorporates the Laplace heart model and pulmonary model using a lumped-parameter model with a distributed arterial-system model. The Laplace heart acts as a pump and consists of an atrium and ventricle. We applied a cellular-contraction model modulated by the calcium concentration and action potential in a single cell. The numerical arterial model is based on a numerical solution of the one-dimensional momentum equations and the continuity equation of flow and vessel wall motion in a geometrically accurate branching network of the arterial system that includes energy loss at bifurcations. To validate our method, the computed pressure waves were compared with existing experimental observations. Using the combined cell–system–arterial network model, pathophysiological events at levels from cells to the arterial network are delineated.