Comparison of different strain-based parameters to identify human left ventricular myocardial infarct: a three-dimensional finite element study

International audienceAssessment of post-ischemic myocardial damage is important to obtain an accurate long-term prognosis after myocardial infarction. Myocardial strains have been shown to be good indicators of the myocardial viability [1]. Strain analysis has been used to identify dysfunctional regions, and several strain-based parameters have been proposed to detect regions of infarct: fractional anisotropy [2], principal strain [3], and local directional strains [1]. In this study, these parameters were used to detect synthetically generated infarct lesions on left ventricles. In addition, effective strain, and stretches in fiber, sheet, and sheet-normal directions were also tested. The parameters were investigated on ten virtual three-dimensional cases based on healthy human left ventricles extracted from MRI examinations [4]. Realistic infarcts were generated for each virtual case with different locations, shapes, sizes and stiffer materials. Diastolic virtual strain data were obtained via finite-element simulations using widely implemented passive constitutive law [4] and rule-based myofiber orientation. This simulation-based approach enables a definite ground truth for the quantitative assessment of each tested parameter. Our preliminary results show that in comparison with the other tested parameters, the stretch in the fiber direction is able to better delineate the infarct in pathological hearts.Acknowledgments: GK Rumindo is supported by the European Commission via the H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN VPH-CaSE, www.vph-case.eu.References:1. MJW Götte et al. Quantification of regional contractile function after infarction: strain analysis superior to wall thickening analysis in discriminating infarct from remote myocardium. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001.2. S Soleimanifard et al. Identification of myocardial infarction using three-dimensional strain tensor fractional anisotropy. Proc IEEE Int Symp Biomed Imaging. 20103. WN Lee et al. Preliminary validation of angle-independent myocardial elastography using MR tagging in a clinical setting. Ultrasound Med Biol. 20084. M Genet et al. Distribution of normal human left ventricular myofiber stress at end diastole and end systole: a target for in silico design of heart failure treatments. J Appl Physiol. 201