Exergy destruction in atrial fibrillation and a new 'Exergy Age Index'

Amin Deyranlou; Alistair Revell; Amir Keshmiri

doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111623

Exergy destruction in atrial fibrillation and a new 'Exergy Age Index'

J Theor Biol. 2023 Nov 7:575:111623. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111623. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Authors

Amin Deyranlou¹, Alistair Revell², Amir Keshmiri³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Fluids and Environment, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK; Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS), Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, 43-45 Foley Street, London W1W 7TS, UK. Electronic address: amin.deyranlou@manchester.ac.uk.
² Department of Fluids and Environment, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
³ Department of Fluids and Environment, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK; Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.

PMID: 37769801
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111623

Abstract

The concept of exergy in living organisms has been widely used to explore correlations between exergy and different physiological conditions. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an abnormal physiological condition that takes place inside the heart and is recognised as a common supraventricular arrhythmia. AF can significantly undermine heart function and subsequently circulatory system. Thus, exergy analysis of cardiac flow during AF is a procedure to quantify the long-term impact of persistent AF. The present study adopts the lumped modelling approach for considering cardiovascular circulation and thermoregulation of the body to evaluate the exergy consumption and destruction of the heart in AF. In order to assess the impact of AF, four common AF-associated characteristics including lack of atrial kick, left atrial remodelling, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, and high-frequency fibrillation are examined. The results show that among AF deficiencies, high-frequency fibrillation is the main cause of exergy destruction of the heart during AF. Moreover, a novel 'exergy age index' is proposed which has shown that high fibrillatory conditions in AF can significantly accelerate the heart ageing process, which in turn substantiates AF's adverse impact on the heart.

Keywords: Ageing; Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac disease; Exergy; Lumped modelling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Atrial Fibrillation*
Heart Atria
Humans