Effects of inertia on the mechanics of the left ventricle during the isovolumic phases

A theory that includes the inertia of the myocardium and the blood is presented for the mechanics of the left ventricle (LV) during the isovolumic phases. The LV is modeled as a thick-walled cylinder; the myocardial material as a fluid-fiber continuum. The fibers are assumed to form an axial as well as a circumferential field and are stimulated by a time- and coordinate-dependent activation wave. The coupled hydroelastic problem is solved analytically for prescribed boundary and initial conditions. The effect of the inertia term in the equations of motion is small oscillations in measurable quantities, such as the LV pressure or the epicardial displacement.