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Staff Thesis 657 views 555 downloads

Development of a cardiovascular and lymphatic network model during human pregnancy

Jason M. Carson Orcid Logo

Swansea University Author: Jason M. Carson Orcid Logo

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/suthesis.50058

Abstract

The human physiology undergoes significant adaptation during pregnancy, partic-ularly within the cardiovascular system. Insufficient cardiovascular adaptation can lead to several serious pathologies which can affect the growth of the foetus, such as hypertension, hypotension, pre-eclampsia, and placenta...

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Published: Swansea Swansea University 2019
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa50058
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Abstract: The human physiology undergoes significant adaptation during pregnancy, partic-ularly within the cardiovascular system. Insufficient cardiovascular adaptation can lead to several serious pathologies which can affect the growth of the foetus, such as hypertension, hypotension, pre-eclampsia, and placental insufficiency. Peripheral oedema occurs in the majority of woman over the course of a pregnancy, which is caused when the lymphatic system is unable to drain the excess fluid that has gathered in the interstitia.In order to provide a platform for modelling these pathologies, a comprehensive closed-loop 1D-0D cardiovascular network model of pregnancy is developed and presented in this thesis. The computational framework allows in-vivo measurement data, including pressures, cardiac output, and gestational week, to be integrated into the cardiovascular model. New numerical schemes are presented for reduced-order modelling of the cardiovascular system and the lymphatic system with a view to providing a platform for a coupled cardiovascular and lymphatic model.An automated parameter estimation technique is presented, which allows the integration of patient measurement data into the model through the iterative adap-tation of haemodynamic parameters, and could be utilised in a wide variety of cardiovascular pathology modelling.The pregnancy model is implemented using patient specific measurements and is extended to cover all gestational weeks for an idealised healthy pregnancy. The model solutions have shown good agreement with values from the literature for: the pulsatility index; pulse wave velocity; and flow rate waveforms in the uterine arteries, which includes the presence of a notch that is used in the clinic to detect pathologies. A novel aspect of the model is in predicting the blood supply to the uterus via the uterine and utero-ovarian communicating arteries, which could be useful in a clinical setting. The model is expected to provide a platform for modelling various pathologies that can develop during pregnancy.
Keywords: Haemodynamics, Modelling, Pregnancy, Cardiovascular, Lymphatics
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering