Left and right ventricular hemodynamic forces in healthy volunteers and elite athletes assessed with 4D flow magnetic resonance imaging

Intracardiac blood flow is driven by hemodynamic forces that are exchanged between the blood and myocardium. Previous studies have been limited to 2D measurements or investigated only LV forces. Right ventricular forces and their mechanistic contribution to asymmetric redirection of flow in the RV have not been measured. We therefore aimed to quantify three-dimensional hemodynamic forces in both ventricles in a cohort of healthy subjects, using magnetic resonance imaging 4D flow measurements. 25 controls,14 elite endurance athletes, and two patients with left ventricular dyssynchrony were included. 4D flow data was used as input for the Navier-Stokes equations to compute hemodynamic forces over the entire cardiac cycle. Hemodynamic forces were found in a qualitatively consistent pattern in all healthy subjects, with variations in amplitude. LV forces were mainly aligned along the apical-basal longitudinal axis, with an additional component aimed towards the aortic valve during systole. Conversely, RV forces were found in both longitudinal and short-axis planes, with a systolic force component driving a slingshot-like acceleration which explains the mechanism behind the redirection of blood flow towards the pulmonary valve. No differences were found between controls and athletes when indexing forces to ventricular volumes, indicating that cardiac force expenditures are tuned to accelerate blood similarly in small and large hearts. Patients' forces differed from controls in both timing and amplitude. Normal cardiac pumping is associated with specific force patterns for both ventricles, and deviation from these forces may be a sensitive marker of ventricular dysfunction. Reference values are provided for future studies.