Do diseased hearts ‘deform’ in a different way to normal hearts?

Mechanisms of ventricular wall deformation revealed by quantitative, imaging-based computer models incorporating sheet- and fibre-dynamics of normal and diseased heart

So the heart can pump blood and oxygen around the body effectively, its four chambers need to ‘deform’ and change shape. But when the heart muscle is damaged, such as after a heart attack, this process does not work and the heart does not pump effectively, which can be fatal. Recently, heart images suggest that during the heartbeat, ‘sheets’ of heart muscle cells actually re-arrange themselves within the heart muscle wall. But beyond this, scientists do not fully understand exactly how the heart muscle changes during contraction. We need to understand more about how the healthy heart muscle deforms and if diseased hearts do this differently. The BHF have awarded a grant to researchers at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London to study the heart contraction process in intricate detail. They will use detailed images of both heart muscle ‘sheets’ and the whole heart to work out how these ‘sheets’ move and rearrange themselves as the heart beats. They will then use this knowledge to build a new, more accurate computer model of the heartbeat. They will use their new program to show how the heart muscle wall moves and how this changes after it is damaged, such as after a heart attack. They will also refine the computer model using information gathered from real life situations. In this project, researchers with engineering, biophysics and mathematics backgrounds are working together to produce a new generation of ‘beating heart’ computer models. This could eventually help doctors better diagnose heart problems and work out if treatments are working in their patients.