Patient-specific simulations and treatment methods in cardiology: Development of a comprehensive numerical approach to remodeling the left ventricle (KA 1163/49) (assoc.)
PI: Prof. Michael Kaliske
Division of the task packages in „SimLivA“ into clinical, animal experiments, as well as ODE and PDE modeling.
Aim:
The aim of this research project is to make a significant step towards a comprehensive numerical analysis of LV remodeling, especially under pathological conditions.
In line with this overarching goal, the following tasks will be pursued:
- Promote interdisciplinary collaboration between cardiologists and engineers
- Insight into mechanisms of LV remodeling at organ and tissue level and their numerical description
- Consideration of LV blood flow in the context of fluid-structure interaction
- Generation of virtualized FE models of patients from clinical data
- Development of efficient solution methods for electromechanical coupling in the left ventricle
Description:
According to World Health Organization statistics, in 2015 an average of one death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) was recorded every 2 seconds (31% of total deaths). In recent decades, significant progress has been made in interdisciplinary research between clinicians and engineers to understand the working mechanisms of the heart and to reduce the mortality and economic consequences of CVD.
Remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) describes a frequently occurring clinical picture. Patient-specific characteristics complicate the identification of the severity of the disease and its treatment strategy. Current cardiological analysis methods have limitations and a deeper insight into the remodeling of the LV is needed. In this context, numerical approaches can provide virtual examination options that are non-invasive, relatively inexpensive and fast. They help cardiologists to choose the most appropriate treatment method for a specific patient. Guided by this idea, the Institute of Statics and Dynamics of Structures and the Department of Cardiology at TU Dresden are working in an interdisciplinary research collaboration that combines medical and engineering expertise with the aim of providing a qualitatively significantly improved precise computer analysis of LV remodeling, especially under pathological conditions.
One of the main innovative developments in the project will be a finite element (FE)-based methodology that analyzes clinical data from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and 3D echocardiography from a technical perspective. In contrast to averaged segment values of medical assessment software, a point distribution of values provides information that allows a geometric shape analysis of the LV. This innovative approach defines robust markers that can identify the severity of the disease and predict disease progression in routine clinical practice. The analysis of clinical data will also help in the elaboration of the basic constitutive laws of LV remodeling. In comparison to existing material models for LV remodeling documented in the literature, significant remodeling aspects (volume growth, fibrosis synthesis, fiber orientation change) will be combined in the modified Hill model to describe the electro-viscoactive response of the myocardium. A key aspect of the research program will be the implementation of an FE-based fluid-structure interaction algorithm to simulate the influence of blood in the LV. This will allow comprehensive FE analyses of generic and personalized LV geometries to validate the developed numerical approach.
Involved Institutions:
- Institute for Structural Analysis, Dresden University of Technology
- Herzzentrum Dresden, Dresden University of Technology
Applicants:
Publications
2023
In: Scientific reports, Bd. 13, 2023.
2022
In: Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Bd. Vol. 407, 2022.