—The flow inside the left ventricle is characterized
by the formation of vortices that smoothly accompany blood
from the mitral inlet to the aortic outlet. Computational fluid
dynamics permitted to shed some light on the fundamental
processes involved with vortex motion. More recently,
patient-specific numerical simulations are becoming an
increasingly feasible tool that can be integrated with the
developing imaging technologies. The existing computational
methods are reviewed in the perspective of their potential role
as a novel aid for advanced clinical analysis. The current
results obtained by simulation methods either alone or in
combination with medical imaging are summarized. Open
problems are highlighted and perspective clinical applications
are discussed.
