Multi-scale modeling of the human cardiovascular system with applications to aortic valvular and arterial stenoses.

A computational model of the entire cardiovascular system is established based on multi-scale modeling, where the arterial tree is described by a one-dimensional model coupled with a lumped parameter description of the remainder. The resultant multi-scale model forms a closed loop, thus placing arterial wave propagation into a global hemodynamic environment. The model is applied to study the global hemodynamic influences of aortic valvular and arterial stenoses located in various regions. Obtained results show that the global hemodynamic influences of the stenoses depend strongly on their locations in the arterial system, particularly, the characteristics of hemodynamic changes induced by the aortic valvular and aortic stenoses are pronounced, which imply the possibility of noninvasively detecting the presence of the stenoses from peripheral pressure pulses. The variations in aortic pressure/flow pulses with the stenoses play testimony to the significance of modeling the entire cardiovascular system in the study of arterial diseases.