Three dimensional reconstruction of the heart can be accomplished using commercial programs dedicated to computer aided design. We employed AutoCAD for DOS, version 12, to create a sphere and cylinder model of the left ventricle and aortic root. This wireframe model has been used for the theoretical analysis of the left ventricular ejection pulse. (Teague S. Stress Doppler Echocardiography. Kluwer Academic Publishers 1990)
The following is an AutoCAD script that will create the above wireframe model and save it to two types of files: dwg - the standard AutoCAD drawing file format; and dxf - which is the portable (readable in ascii) file format.
NEW
NEW1
ai_sphere 5,5,5 2 32 32
ai_cone 5,5,6.5 1 1 2 32
DVIEW window 2.5,7.5 7.5,2.5
CA 45 45 x
hide
save new1.dwg
dxfout new.dxf 6
Animation:
This is a modification of the sphere wireframe. This morph multiGIF animation displays the conservation of volume as it is transmitted from the left ventricle (represented by the sphere) into the aorta (the cylinder). The change in radius of the sphere of 0.5 units represents a change in volume of 19.37 cu. This volume is translated into height to demonstrate the conservation. The length of the cylinder (aorta) changes from 2 units to roughly 8 units.
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