Cardiovascular Interactions: A Mating of an Interactive Lab Book and a Mathematical Model (Out of Print)

Abstract

Abstract A substantive update from the 2002 descriptive article of Version 4, this resource contains Version 5 of the Cardiovascular Interactions (CVI) Project. The CVI Project is an interactive learning tool that demonstrates the complex and intricate interactions between the functions of the heart and peripheral circulation to provide an adequate cardiac output during various stresses. In this updated version, the six-compartment mathematical model now includes a pulmonary venous bed and separate control of right and left ventricular heart rates permits the study of arrhythmias. The model continues to show the redistribution of blood between the peripheral circulation and the heart in response to parameter changes. The model is accompanied by an interactive lab book and an information file with relevant basic physiology and an explanation of the cause-and-effect of all 17 lab experiments. Within these experiments the model uses basic relationships to demonstrate highly complex interactions related to redistribution of blood in the body in response to parameter changes such as heart rate, cardiac contractility, ventricular diastolic compliance, vascular resistance, and venoconstriction. In the author's experience oversimplified models lead to serious misunderstanding. This model is complex enough to be realistic, but not so complex as to be overwhelming.

Keywords

• Poiseuille's Law Compliance
• CVI Project
• Peripheral Circulation
• Cardiac Function