MEDFL5145 ¨C Cardiac mechanics

Course content

This is an in-depth four-day course in cardiac mechanics for heart researchers and clinicians interested in hemodynamic theory and cardiac mechanics.

The course will provide a comprehensive review of key concepts in cardiac mechanics. Heart researchers and clinical cardiologists need to know key concepts and terms to measure and describe heart function, such as myocardial deformation, afterload, contractility, relaxation constant (tau), etc. This course will provide a comprehensive review of these topics.

The course is aimed at clinical and translational researchers with an interest in cardiac mechanics and hemodynamic theory. The course plan will be covered in lectures and practical training by analyzing and performing calculations on distributed measurement data.

Learning outcome

The topics that will be covered in the course are:

• Myocardial deformation
• Tau - the time constant for exponential pressure drop
• End-diastolic pressure-volume relationship
• Contractility & end-systolic pressure-volume relationship
• Preload
• Afterload
• Suction & restoring forces
• Frank-Starling effect
• Myocardial and ventricular efficiency

See this list for details: Cardiac Mechanics Curriculum details 2024

Admission to the course

The course is reserved for students at the Medical Student Research Programme at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dentistry, UiO.

Students sign up for?classes and exam to this course in StudentWeb

Applicants will upon registration receive an immediate reply in StudentWeb?as to whether a seat at this course is granted or not.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

• Planned or started research project in cardiovascular medicine/physiology.
• Basic knowledge in circulation physiology equivalent to chapter 7 in Human Biology, Starr & McMillan.

Recommended previous knowledge

Recommended reading prior to the course:

• Burkhoff, Daniel. (2011). Mechanical properties of the heart and its interaction with the vascular system. Cardiac Physiol. Pages 1-28.
• Nicolaas Westerhof , Nikolaos Stergiopulos , Mark I.M. Noble , Berend E. Westerhof. Snapshots of Hemodynamics - Aid for Clinical Research and Graduate Education. Third edition.

• Bastos MB, Burkhoff D, Maly J, Daemen J, den Uil CA, Ameloot K, Lenzen M, Mahfoud F, Zijlstra F, Schreuder JJ, Van Mieghem NM. Invasive left ventricle pressure-volume analysis: overview and practical clinical implications. Eur Heart J. 2020 Mar 21;41(12):1286-1297. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehz552. PMID: 31435675; PMCID: PMC7084193.

Overlapping courses

• 2 credits overlap with MF9145 ¨C Cardiac mechanics.

Teaching

Lectures with a high degree of activation of the course participants.

Half a day is set aside to look at and analyze echocardiographic images.

Measurement data will be distributed, mostly on spreadsheets, which the students will analyze and extract the desired parameters from the data.

Participation in at least 80% of the teaching is required to be allowed to take the exam. Attendance at lectures will be registered.

Examination

Home exam to be submitted two weeks after the course.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.