1 Laboratory of Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics (LCFD), Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: g_dilabb@encs.concordia.ca.
2 Laboratory of Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics (LCFD), Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Jet collisions and vortex reversal in the human left ventricle.

J Biomech. 2018 09 10;78:155-160

Authors: Di Labbio G, Kadem L

Abstract

Unnatural dynamics of the notorious vortex in the left ventricle is often associated with cardiac disease. Understanding how different cardiac diseases alter the flow physics in the left ventricle may therefore provide a powerful tool for disease detection. In this work, the fluid dynamics in the left ventricle subject to different severities of aortic regurgitation is experimentally investigated by performing time-resolved particle image velocimetry in a left heart duplicator. Diastolic vortex reversal was observed in the left ventricle accompanied by an increase in viscous energy dissipation. Vortex dynamics and energy dissipation may provide useful insights on sub-optimal flow patterns in the left ventricle.

PMID: 30049450 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]