DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q9h
title: Finite element models of human left atria with fibrotic remodeling

description: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Atrial
 myopathy, including fibrosis, is associated with an increased risk of
 ischemic stroke, but the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly
 understood. Fibrosis modifies myocardial structure, impairing electrical
 propagation and tissue biomechanics, and creating stagnant flow regions
 where clots could form. Fibrosis can be mapped non-invasively using late
 gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (LGE-MRI). However,
 fibrosis maps are not currently incorporated into stroke risk calculations
 or computational electro-mechano-fluidic models. We present multi-physics
 simulations of left atrial (LA) myocardial motion and hemodynamics using
 patient-specific anatomies and fibrotic maps from LGE-MRI. We modify
 tissue stiffness and active tension generation in fibrotic regions and
 investigate how these changes affect LA flow for different fibrotic
 burdens. We find that fibrotic regions and, to a lesser extent,
 non-fibrotic regions experience reduced myocardial strain, resulting in
 decreased LA emptying fraction consistent with clinical observations. Both
 fibrotic tissue stiffening and hypocontractility independently reduce LA
 function, but together, these two alterations cause more pronounced
 effects than either one alone. Fibrosis significantly alters flow patterns
 throughout the atrial chamber, particularly, the filling and emptying jets
 of the left atrial appendage (LAA). The effects of fibrosis in LA flow are
 largely captured by the concomitant changes in LA emptying fraction except
 inside the LAA, where a multi-factorial behavior is observed. This work
 illustrates how high-fidelity, multi-physics models can be used to study
 thrombogenesis mechanisms in patient-specific anatomies, shedding light
 onto the links between atrial fibrosis and ischemic stroke.
description: This dataset contains finite element models of human left atria
 with fibrotic remodeling, to accompany the publication by Gonzalo,
 Augustin, et al. (2024). The anatomical models included in the dataset are
 identical to those that were used to conduct computational simulations, as
 in the paper. No further post-processing has been applied. Please refer to
 the aforementioned paper for a complete accounting of the imaging
 techniques used upstream from the model reconstruction process.
description: # Finite element models of human left atria with fibrotic remodeling This
 dataset contains finite element models of human left atria with fibrotic
 remodeling, to accompany the publication by Gonzalo, Augustin, et al.
 (2024). DOI: 10.1113/JP287011 Please contact co-corresponding author
 Patrick Boyle ([pmjboyle@uw.edu](mailto:pmjboyle@uw.edu)) with any
 questions, concerns, complaints, or difficulties. ## Description of the
 data and file structure Each VTK file contains point, element, and vector
 (fiber orientation associated with each element) data for one
 patient-derived human left atrial model. Elements are tagged (via the
 elemTag data field) based on anatomical location and tissue type: tag 11 -
 non-fibrotic left atrial (LA) body tag 13 - non-fibrotic left atrial
 appendage (LAA) tag 15 - fibrotic LA body tag 17 - fibrotic LAA tag 21 - a
 subset of elements along the left superior pulmonary vein (LSPV) boundary
 tag 23 - a subset of elements along the left inferior pulmonary vein
 (LIPV) boundary tag 25 - a subset of elements along the right superior
 pulmonary vein (RSPV) boundary tag 27 - a subset of elements along the
 right inferior pulmonary vein (RIPV) boundary ## Sharing/Access
 information All files contained in this repository are published under the
 Creative Commons CC0 license. Future users are thus allowed and encouraged
 to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or
 format, with no conditions. Although CC0 does not require attribution, we
 encourage all parties who reuse this dataset in any way to cite the paper
 with which it was published (Gonzalo, Augustin, et al. 2024 doi:
 10.1113/JP287011). ## Code/software information ParaView can be downloaded
 from https://www.paraview.org/download/ #### Example usage -- tested using
 ParaView 5.12 on Ubuntu 22.04 $ paraview Fib47.vtk