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Computational Modelling of the Cardiovascular System for the Non-invasive Diagnosis of Portal Hypertension

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Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart (FIMH 2023)

Abstract

Cirrhosis is a prevalent chronic liver disease that causes scarring of the liver, leading to altered mechanics and impaired function. One of its most severe complications is portal hypertension, characterised by an increase in portal vein pressure, associated with abnormal blood flow dynamics. Portal hypertension is usually diagnosed by measuring the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) through invasive catheterisation. Computational models can help to understand the causes of observed phenomena and assess certain variables that are challenging to measure without invasive procedures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use a 0D model of the cardiovascular system to study portal hypertension and its haemodynamic effects in the circulation. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the impact of different variables on the model. In addition, the model was personalised based on hepatic Doppler waveforms from two patients, one with elevated HVPG (and cirrhosis) and the other with normal HVPG (and hepatitis). The model-based haemodynamic parameters were compared to the invasive haemodynamic measurements. This study provides insight into how cirrhosis alters haemodynamics and demonstrates the potential of employing computational models of the cardiovascular system to understand haemodynamic changes in individual patients.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been performed under FI 2022 grant number 00237, awarded by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), Generalitat de Catalunya. It has been partially funded by European Union-NextGenerationEU, Ministry of Universities and Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, through a call from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona).

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Correspondence to M. Inmaculada Villanueva .

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Villanueva, M.I. et al. (2023). Computational Modelling of the Cardiovascular System for the Non-invasive Diagnosis of Portal Hypertension. In: Bernard, O., Clarysse, P., Duchateau, N., Ohayon, J., Viallon, M. (eds) Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart. FIMH 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13958. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35302-4_48

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35302-4_48

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35301-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35302-4

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