The Heart's Curve

The curvature of the heart is critical to its function, affecting such factors as the speed of the electrical signal that triggers each beat and the manner in which the heart stresses as it pumps blood.  After a heart attack, the scar tissue that forms changes the heart curvature, and in some types of heart disease, the heart changes shape to try to maintain pumping performance. 

The University of Rhode Island Cardiac Engineering research group, directed by Frederick Vetter, developed a computational approach to construct models of the human heart, pictured above, as a new way to describe and study heart curvature in a quantitative way.  The researchers start with input data from relatively easy to collect magnetic resonance images or computed tomography scans, so the team hopes the technique will easily make its way into the offices of cardiologists.  Such information could offer critical clues to a heart attack survivor about how their heart’s damage will impact its function.

Credit: Frederick J. Vetter, Biomedical Engineering, University of Rhode Island