Heart simulation project on an upbeat

Powered by Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s realistic simulation applications, the ‘Living Heart Project’ announced last year, that it had moved its first 3D heart simulator into beta test, had validated the efficacy of a device and surpassed 30 contributing member organisations.

As a key step in this initiative, Dassault Systèmes signed a five-year collaborative research agreement with the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which will initially target the development of testing paradigms for the insertion, placement and performance of pacemaker leads and other cardiovascular devices used to treat heart disease.

Using a technology crowdsourcing model that protects the intellectual property of each member, yet enables all to share the outcome, the Living Heart Project is being developed closely with leading cardiologists, medical device companies and academic researchers who participate in the evaluation of the simulated heart model’s use in testing medical devices, improving clinical diagnosis and guiding pre-surgical planning.

The 30 contributing member organisations, which include more than 100 cardiovascular specialists from across research, industry and medicine, have access to the heart simulator for testing, enabling the acceleration of the programme via crowdsourcing.

The researchers have teamed with the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) with the goal of accelerating the approval process of medical devices while spurring innovation, improving patient reliability and reducing costs.

The Project has already been used to validate the efficacy of a novel valve assist device prior to insertion in a real patient and understand the progression of heart disease. MDIC's president and CEO, Bill Murray takes up the story:

“Computational modelling and simulation has the potential to revolutionize the medical device and healthcare fields by accelerating innovation and providing comprehensive evidence of long-term safety.

"It holds the promise of going beyond empirical testing through human clinical trials to evaluating the interaction of devices with the human body that is not obtainable in any other way.

"The Living Heart Project is a leading example of a new tool that offers the medical device community a heart simulation that could be validated for use from device design to regulatory submission.”

Dr. Kumaran Kolandaivelu is instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical director, Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He believes the future of healthcare will include the use of modelling and simulation to guide treatment choice, train doctors and even educate patients on their role in managing their health.

“As physicians, we have a moral imperative to use the best science available to ensure the highest quality care with minimal invasiveness and at the least possible cost, says Dr Kolandaivelu. “We are working with Dassault Systèmes because I believe the time is right to embrace the full potential of computational science in medicine as it has in other disciplines.” Jean Colombel, vice president, Life Sciences at Dassault Systèmes concludes:

“Enabling healthcare players to create innovative patient experiences is Dassault Systèmes strategic aim in Life Sciences. Through our 3DEXPERIENCE platform, tailored to address unmet medical needs, as demonstrated here in cardiovascular, we support a generation of new healthcare solutions and collaborative practices that will ultimately improve patient outcomes and increase patient accessibility.”

Information on the Living Heart Project can be found here.