Relationship between changes of chamber mechanical parameters and mean pressure-mean flow diagrams of the left ventricle.

A theoretical relationship between mean ventricular pressure (P) and mean ventricular outflow (Q) was developed based on a model of the left ventricle with elastic-resistive properties. Using a polynomial interpolation method, a fifth-order polynomial equation for the P-Q relationship was obtained. Its coefficients are functions of end-diastolic volume (VD), heart rate (HR), contractile state (CS), diastolic elastance (ED), asymmetry (S) of the elastance function E(t), and ventricular internal resistance factor (K). Effect of changes of these parameters indicated that normal and enhanced CS relations diverge toward the P axis but have a common intercept toward the Q axis. A similar effect was obtained with increased asymmetry of E(t). Changes in VD, HR and ED produced a parallel shift of the P-Q relation. The effect of K was negligible, however, which would reduce the description of the P-Q relationship to a third-order polynomial equation. A flow-dependent deactivation component was introduced, altering the asymmetry factor S, which decreases in a linear proportion to Q. This factor shifted the pump function graph downwards. We conclude that the theoretical description of the P-Q relation we present reproduces the experimental behavior of pump function diagrams reported in the literature (changes in VD, HR, and CS) and predicts the possible behavior due to other parameter changes.