Author(s)

R.M. Shoucri

Abstract

The myocardium is represented as a thick-walled cylinder contracting symmetrically. The concept of body force (force/unit volume of myocardium) is used for modelling the active force of the myocardium. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us to introduce explicitly the active force of the myocardium in the formalism describing the pressure-volume relation in the ventricles. Calculation of external work reserve, oxygen consumption and stress-strain analysis are discussed. Potential clinical application of the results is indicated. 1 Introduction In the study of pressure-volume relation (PVR) in the left ventricle, little attention is usually given to the role played by the active force of the myocardium. The special issue on PVR published by the European Heart

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