AUTHOR=Zaid Mohamed , Sala Lorenzo , Ivey Jan R. , Tharp Darla L. , Mueller Christina M. , Thorne Pamela K. , Kelly Shannon C. , Silva Kleiton Augusto Santos , Amin Amira R. , Ruiz-Lozano Pilar , Kapiloff Michael S. , Despins Laurel , Popescu Mihail , Keller James , Skubic Marjorie , Ahmad Salman , Emter Craig A. , Guidoboni Giovanna TITLE=Mechanism-Driven Modeling to Aid Non-invasive Monitoring of Cardiac Function via Ballistocardiography JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medical Technology VOLUME=4 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medical-technology/articles/10.3389/fmedt.2022.788264 DOI=10.3389/fmedt.2022.788264 ISSN=2673-3129 ABSTRACT=

Left ventricular (LV) catheterization provides LV pressure-volume (P-V) loops and it represents the gold standard for cardiac function monitoring. This technique, however, is invasive and this limits its applicability in clinical and in-home settings. Ballistocardiography (BCG) is a good candidate for non-invasive cardiac monitoring, as it is based on capturing non-invasively the body motion that results from the blood flowing through the cardiovascular system. This work aims at building a mechanistic connection between changes in the BCG signal, changes in the P-V loops and changes in cardiac function. A mechanism-driven model based on cardiovascular physiology has been used as a virtual laboratory to predict how changes in cardiac function will manifest in the BCG waveform. Specifically, model simulations indicate that a decline in LV contractility results in an increase of the relative timing between the ECG and BCG signal and a decrease in BCG amplitude. The predicted changes have subsequently been observed in measurements on three swine serving as pre-clinical models for pre- and post-myocardial infarction conditions. The reproducibility of BCG measurements has been assessed on repeated, consecutive sessions of data acquisitions on three additional swine. Overall, this study provides experimental evidence supporting the utilization of mechanism-driven mathematical modeling as a guide to interpret changes in the BCG signal on the basis of cardiovascular physiology, thereby advancing the BCG technique as an effective method for non-invasive monitoring of cardiac function.