Impact of Arrhythmia on Myocardial Perfusion: A Computational Model-Based Study

Xinyang Ge, Sergey Simakov, Youjun Liu and Fuyou Liang
Additional contact information
Xinyang Ge: State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Sergey Simakov: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
Youjun Liu: College of Life Science and Bioengineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Fuyou Liang: State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: (1) Background: Arrhythmia, which is an umbrella term for various types of abnormal rhythms of heartbeat, has a high prevalence in both the general population and patients with coronary artery disease. So far, it remains unclear how different types of arrhythmia would affect myocardial perfusion and the risk/severity of myocardial ischemia. (2) Methods: A computational model of the coronary circulation coupled to the global cardiovascular system was employed to quantify the impacts of arrhythmia and its combination with coronary artery disease on myocardial perfusion. Furthermore, a myocardial supply–demand balance index (MSDBx) was proposed to quantitatively evaluate the severity of myocardial ischemia under various arrhythmic conditions. (3) Results: Tachycardia and severe irregularity of heart rates (HRs) depressed myocardial perfusion and increased the risk of subendocardial ischemia (evaluated by MSDBx), whereas lowering HR improved myocardial perfusion. The presence of a moderate to severe coronary artery stenosis considerably augmented the sensitivity of MSDBx to arrhythmia. Further data analyses revealed that arrhythmia induced myocardial ischemia mainly via reducing the amount of coronary artery blood flow in each individual cardiac cycle rather than increasing the metabolic demand of the myocardium (measured by the left ventricular pressure-volume area). (4) Conclusions: Both tachycardia and irregular heartbeat tend to increase the risk of myocardial ischemia, especially in the subendocardium, and the effects can be further enhanced by concomitant existence of coronary artery disease. In contrast, properly lowering HR using drugs like β -blockers may improve myocardial perfusion, thereby preventing or relieving myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease.

Keywords: arrhythmia; myocardial perfusion; coronary artery disease; computational model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/17/2128/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/17/2128/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:9:y:2021:i:17:p:2128-:d:627601

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

More articles in Mathematics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().