Transforming Big Data into 3D-Scientific Data, “The Living Heart Project” Attracts a Multidisciplinary Team of Experts to Help Define the Future Diagnosis and Treatment of the Heart
Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today unveiled the world’s first realistic 3D simulation model of the human heart. Developed with a multidisciplinary team of heart experts to help combat cardiovascular disease, “The Living Heart Project” will launch the next frontier in diagnosing, treating and preventing heart conditions through personalized, 3D virtual models.
According to recent research from the World Health Organization, 17.3 million people died from cardiovascular diseases globally in 2008, representing 30 percent of all global deaths. The American Heart Association report, Forecasting the Future of Cardiovascular Disease in the United States, believes the real total direct medical costs of cardiovascular disease will reach $818.1 billion over the next three decades.
At the center of the project is a 3D heart model powered by Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform technologies. Simulation experts working at Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA have used the latest advancements in simulation to develop a comprehensive 3D heart model, capturing the electrical and mechanical behavior of the heart in the most realistic and vivid way.
Today, the lack of realistic 3D human models limits researchers’ ability to predict device behavior in humans. The Living Heart Project has attracted a multidisciplinary community of medical researchers, practitioners, device manufacturers and industry regulators who will have access to 3D computational models to accelerate the translation of research innovation into market-driven products and services.
Using personalized data, such as a patient’s echocardiogram, MRI and CT-Scan images, along with cardiac research data, the 3D heart simulation allows individuals to travel into the heart through a virtual reality display of heart chambers, movements and sounds that accurately reflect the behavior of a human heart. This replica of a beating human heart can be maneuvered, modified and disassembled by a medical professional to reveal detailed behavior at the interior, without the need for additional invasive diagnostics.
“Dassault Systèmes has been involved in many simulation projects over the years – from automobile design simulations that help avoid serious injury, to studies done alongside leading universities that study the impact of contact sports on the brain. The collaboration among multidisciplinary experts that led to The Living Heart Project ensures it will have a lasting impact,” said Bernard Charlès, President and CEO of Dassault Systèmes. “With the contribution of leading researchers, medical practitioners and regulatory agencies, this project is another example of how 3D technology improves nature and life.”
The Living Heart Project from Dassault Systèmes will leverage the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to connect all of the collaborators together in the common language of modeling and simulation, so the greatest minds in the world can solve the toughest problems. What makes this project unique is that Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA – the only software capable of simulating the complex nonlinear behavior of the human heart – was used to produce the most realistic and reliable results possible.
According to one of the SIMULIA Community Conference (SCC) keynote speakers Kumaran Kolandaivelu, a researcher at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, “This is a crucial time in history for the advancement of heart disease research. Realistic human simulation models will help us examine and better understand how a heart behaves. For example, the simulation of how a heart‘s properties transform from a stable coronary heart to an unstable heart condition would help us understand what happens visually during the process and spark new ideas on possible treatments.”
This realistic human heart simulation will become a valuable educational and translational tool to incite research innovation, accelerate regulatory approval cycles and improve patient diagnoses and care. The project could reduce development costs for new and more personalized devices and ultimately enable early diagnosis and improve treatment outcomes.