LEFT VENTRICLE AS CONFOCAL PROLATE SPHEROIDS

A model of left ventricle is described which takes into account the physiologic variations of thickness, a function of time and distance prior to and during ejection, by assuming that the prolate spheroids are confocal at a given instant. The hyperbolic segment of arc between innermost and outermost spheroids, confocal with the latter, defines a so-called functional thickness, for which a derivation is given. Results show that this model operates in a range of eccentricity wherein thickness change per unit internal volume change are greatest. © 1968 N. Rashevsky.