A phenomenological discrete model for cardiac tissue mechanics

Abstract

This study introduces a simulator for replicating cardiac contraction using a mass–spring system, chosen for its simplicity and computational efficiency. Our phenomenological model’s validity was established by comparing it with finite element method (FEM) based simulators, employing a cardiac mechanics benchmark comprising three distinct experiments. Comparative metrics such as shear, strain, and volume preservation were employed. During the systolic phase, discrepancies between the mass–spring and FEM models ranged from 1 to 5% (depending on the metric). Good agreement was also observed across a complete cardiac cycle. The most notable disparity between the models occurred during the experiment simulating significant heart inflation, ranging from 3 to 13% based on the comparison metric. Furthermore, the mass–spring model exhibited an execution time over seven times faster than the FEM-based model. In conclusion, our work presents a novel phenomenological model for cardiac contraction employing a computationally efficient spring-mass system. This characteristic is particularly pertinent for generating patient-specific models and digital twins.