What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Review. Population: Heart function. Intervention: Computational models of the heart.

August 1, 2003

Modeling Total Heart Function

Key Result

Computational models of the heart link cellular structure to intact heart behavior, but require inclusion of metabolic and signal transduction pathways to understand disease processes.

PICO

P

Population

Heart function

I

Intervention / Comparator

Computational models of the heart

Limitations

Many more aspects of physiological function, including metabolic and signal transduction pathways, need to be included before significant progress can be made in understanding many disease processes.

Abstract

Computational models of the electrical and mechanical function of the heart are reviewed. These models attempt to explain the integrated function of the heart in terms of ventricular anatomy, the structure and material properties of myocardial tissue, the membrane ion channels, and calcium handling and myofilament mechanics of cardiac myocytes. The models have established the computational framework for linking the structure and function of cardiac cells and tissue to the integrated behavior of the intact heart, but many more aspects of physiological function, including metabolic and signal transduction pathways, need to be included before significant progress can be made in understanding many disease processes.