Animation of Atrial and Ventricular External Walls of a Virtual 3D Heart Based on Echocardiogram Images

Abstract

The advance of the three-dimensional (3D) computational simulation resulted in high-fidelity virtual heart models, which are useful for implementation in medical educational tools. These computational tools help the study of cardiac anatomy and function and are of interest to many medical professionals. As the appearance of the heart surface is relevant for the comprehension of cardiac movements, the aim of the present work was the development of an animation of the external atrial and ventricular walls, during the heartbeat in a virtual 3D heart, according to physiological data. The animation used data extracted from echocardiogram images of healthy human hearts and ECG timing. The results show that displacements of the epicardial walls measured manually and wall displacements generated by the animation were comparable. Thus, the implemented animation of the atrial and ventricular external walls of the 3D virtual heart complied with those of echocardiogram images, being useful for future implementation in cardiac teaching and (or) learning tools.