Mathematical modelling of the cardiovascular system

This paper is an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Engineering Mathematic (Volume 47/3–4, 2003) on the mathematical modelling of the cardiovascular system. This issue includes the 2003 James Lighthill Memorial Paper written by Pedley [1] on the mathematical modelling of arterial fluid dynamics. This introduction is written to bring cardiovascular biomechanics to readers with a background in mathematical modelling and computational mechanics. The importance of mathematical modelling for physiological understanding, diagnostics, prosthesis development, patient selection and medical planning is indicated and discussed shortly. A subdivision into models for cardiac mechanics, pressure- and flow-wave propagation, mass transfer and fully three-dimensional fluid-structure interaction is made and references are given to the different contributions of the issue