Event-based versus particle image velocimetry for cardiac flow analysis in a left-heart simulator

This study reports the first biomedical application of event-based imaging velocimetry (EBIV) and demonstrates its feasibility for investigating cardiac hemodynamics. Experiments were conducted in a left-heart pulse duplicator to characterize intraventricular fluid mechanics with a transcatheter mitral valve. EBIV and conventional particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were acquired synchronously under two distinct flow regimes. The aim was to assess whether EBIV—a neuromorphic, event-driven imaging technology—can provide flow measurements comparable to those obtained with PIV, which serves as the reference technique for the in vitro assessment of prosthetic heart valves hydrodynamics. The results show that EBIV accurately reproduces valve-related hemodynamic features, including phase-averaged velocity fields, vortex structures, circulation, Lagrangian trajectories, and pulsatile kinetic energy, while producing markedly compact datasets and benefiting from an extended dynamic range. A modal analysis based on proper orthogonal decomposition further confirms a strong agreement between EBIV and PIV, revealing nearly identical dominant spatial modes. These findings establish EBIV as a promising, data-efficient, and real-time capable alternative for the quantitative characterization of cardiac flows. This first biomedical application underscores EBIV's potential for device assessment, intraventricular flow analysis, and broader application in experimental cardiovascular research.