A cardiovascular model for the analysis of pacing configurations in cardiac resynchronization therapy

A lumped-parameter model of the cardiovascular system, made of 3 interacting modules (an electrical heart model, an elastance-based mechanical heart model and a circulatory system) is proposed in this paper. This model is able to reproduce the clinically observed quasi-parabolic nature of the dependence of systolic blood pressure (SBP) on atrioventricular (AVD) and interventricular (VVD) delays and the increased SBP on AVD dependance at high heart rates. A sensitivity analysis has been performed on the main variables of this model, as well as parameter identification on interpolated clinical data. Results from these analyses show the importance of integrating the circulatory and regulatory systems for the reproduction of appropriate physiological responses to CRT.