Noninvasive diagnosis of diseased heart wall and valve, based on their dynamics modelling, echo and phonocardiography

Noninvasive diagnostic cardiology methods (for reliable and early detection of heart wall and valvular disease, wall disease and pump dysfunction) have relied on echocardiographical observation of wall and valvular leaflet motion. This can only provide quantitative measures of LV wall and valvular pathology and dysfunction. In order to address this need, the authors have developed quantitative indices for left ventricular (LV) wall and mitral valvular (MV) pathologies, in terms of LV wall and MV constitutive properties. The first heart sound contains components due to vibrations of both the mitral valve (MV) and left ventricular (LV) wall, caused by blood oscillating between them, when the LV contraction is initiated. Analyses of vibrations of these cardiac structures combined with associated heart sounds´ spectral analyses, enables noninvasive determination of normal and pathological stress-dependent properties of MV and LV wall (associated with LV resistance-to-filling due to myocardial ischemia and infarct), respectively